Historic Wallingford:
When Historic Wallingford brought me on as Administrative Assistant, I encountered a tension I know intimately from my academic work: the delicate balance between honoring a neighborhood's architectural legacy and creating space for its evolving, inclusive future.
Historic preservation circles often grapple with this beautiful complexity; the deep longing to keep history alive alongside an equally deep longing to make space for the neighborhood's growth and the full spectrum of who calls it home.
This project embodies everything I value about thoughtful community development. Historic Wallingford had already demonstrated their commitment to this balance through their explicit organizational values around "diversity, equity, inclusion, and community-first initiatives,"
and their meaningful acknowledgment of the Coast Salish Peoples whose ancestral homeland we share.
What they needed was administrative support that could help translate these values into sustainable programming and community engagement.
Navigating Preservation and Progress
My academic background in trauma-informed design and built environment studies gave me a unique lens for understanding how historic preservation can either reinforce exclusion or become a tool for radical inclusion.
Drawing from my research on community belonging and my experience with mutual aid strategies, I work alongside an incredible and like-minded board to bridge what can sometimes feel like competing priorities—preserving Wallingford's early 20th century streetcar suburb character while actively creating space for all current and future residents to see themselves in the neighborhood's ongoing story.
Image: Ron and Marjan Petty stand at the base of Animal Storm in Summer 2025 with community members of Historic Wallingford in celebration of the Animal Storm 40th Anniversary. (Courtesy Clay Eals)
Community Programming and Connection
My primary focus is centered on supporting the 2025 Speakeasy Fundraiser and expanding community programming initiatives.
The Speakeasy event, with its "1920s glamour, community connection, and neighborhood celebration" represented exactly the kind of front porch approach I hope for: bringing people together around shared appreciation while creating opportunities for authentic relationship-building across difference.
Working on community programming allowed me to apply systems thinking to historic preservation work, helping develop initiatives that honor architectural heritage while centering current residents' needs and visions for their neighborhood's future.
This meant supporting programming that goes beyond traditional preservation approaches to include community education, inclusive storytelling, and collaborative visioning processes.
Collaborative Framework Building
Perhaps most importantly, this partnership reinforced my belief that effective community development happens when we combine institutional knowledge with diverse community voices and clear frameworks for inclusive participation.
By supporting administrative systems that prioritize accessibility and community-centered decision-making, we continued already existing infastructure for Historic Wallingford to continue growing as an organization that truly embodies their stated commitment to mutual appreciation and shared stewardship.
Reflections on Heritage and Justice
This work deepened my understanding of how historic preservation, when approached with intentional community accountability, can become a powerful tool for neighborhood resilience and inclusive belonging. Rather than treating history as something fixed to be protected from change, we supported approaches that recognize preservation as an ongoing community conversation about which stories get centered and how spaces continue evolving to serve everyone who calls them home.
Historic Wallingford's vision—"creating space for everyone's legacy to flourish"—captures exactly the kind of preservation work that honors the past while building toward a more inclusive future.
To Learn More about Historic Wallingford, you can visit their website at historicwallinford.org
