And Looking Ahead to the Next 20 Years
By Krista Martinelli
Tell us about the origins of Common Ground Community Development, the nonprofit. Did you always have a vision of what it would become?
KO: We started in 2006. I didn’t see ahead to where we are now. I had a vision of just a music lessons school. So the origins were simple. I love how creativity affects every part of life, including entrepreneurship and education. It’s been a nice, natural progression.
What are the main things that you do at Common Ground?
KO: Common Ground Community Development is all about programs and partnerships. So, our programming is arts-related and entrepreneurship-related.
· Creative Arts Academy – Our arts education program. (Facebook & Insta)
· Arts classes for veterans for free. (See Veterans tab on the website)
· The Download – Homeschool enrichment classes, taught by professionals in their fields, which makes us unique. (Facebook & Insta)
· CG Business Connections – Our social entrepreneurship program. Our Tuesday morning networking group. We like to call it “connections” instead of “networking” because that’s really what we do. (Private Group on Facebook: CG Business Connections)
And for our partnerships, we partner with community organizations which are nonprofits that need a place. They have a mission, a vision and a passion, but they don’t have a place. So, we open our doors to local nonprofits, creatives and entrepreneurs to have their programming here. These include:
· The Burrito Project South Florida – they call this place home. They feed the working poor and homeless 4 days a week. (3 days with the Burrito Project and 1 day with Reveal Fellowship Church with the Lord’s lunch). (Facebook & Insta)
We also have our Arts partners, professionals in the arts. We offer our space at low cost or no cost to these partners, including:
· Jeanette and her Stages with Jeanette Brown (Facebook & Insta)
· All Things Narrative with Derrick Hatch (Facebook & Insta)
· LCG Theater with Laura Graham (2x per year free theater outreach program). (Insta)
· AnotherDoorOpens.com. (Facebook & Insta)
· Alondra Bahls-Mariles with her nonprofit called Upbeat Community Music. (Facebook & Insta)
We also partner with other organizations, who meet daily in our space. These include:
· AA and NA
On Sundays, we partner with Common Ground Church and City Blessing Church.
Common Ground Church. (Facebook & Insta)
City Blessing Church (Facebook)
Another big thing we do is to allow people to use our space at an affordable cost. We have a space that seats about 100 people, a stage, a sound and lights booth, a full kitchen, as well as smaller rooms. So, a lot of nonprofits and other organizations enjoy renting out our space for events.
So Common Ground came first and then the coffee shops? Do the coffee shops still fuel the nonprofit?
KO: Common Ground Community Development (CGCD) started in 2006. The coffee shops started in 2014, under the nonprofit. We started the coffee shop as an entrepreneurial way to support the organization. We grew to 4 locations of Common Grounds coffee shops – but before we grew, we restructured. The coffee company is now a for-profit company supporting the organization. It began with the Lake Worth coffee shop on J Street. We added the Boynton Beach Common Grounds in 2019. We added the West Palm Beach location in 2023. And we just added the West Palm Beach Clear Lake location in 2025.
It was a happy accident! We didn’t expect the coffee shops to take off like they did.
What’s your favorite thing about Common Ground?
KO: Creativity! And connection. I love imparting creativity to people of all ages. I love seeing people flourish in their creativity. I love seeing entrepreneurs solving problems creatively, making decisions creatively. I love connecting people, the community part of connecting people.
What’s the biggest challenge?
KO: Not being able to do everything that we want to do. We have so many classes and workshops that we want to do. It’s like eating an elephant one bite at a time. We would love to just do it all now!
Now that it’s been 20 years, what’s your vision for the next 20 years?
Tell us about the 2 big celebrations happening Oct. 3 and Oct. 17? What can people expect at the Party/Open House? What can people expect at the Gala?
KO: Saturday, Oct. 3rd is a party, a celebration of 20 years. We will have fun party food, fun music, pop-up performers, other surprises, and it’s from 1 to 3pm. At 2pm we will have a toast and a short celebratory presentation of where we’ve been and where we’re going. It’s for everybody and it’s free. All ages are invited.
On Saturday, Oct. 17th we are having our 20thanniversary gala. It’s called “Once Upon an Impact: An Intimate and Immersive Storytelling Gala” and it will be like no other gala. We will have a multimedia presentation of the story of Common Ground. There will be a sit-down dinner with delicious food. We will also have a silent auction, full of unique experiences and items. This fundraising night will be anything but typical. This is to help us launch the next 20 years of impact.
In terms of donations, are there things that are always needed…for the Burrito Project? For the Creative Arts Academy? And what silent auction items are you looking for?
KO: For the silent auction, we are looking for unique experiences like skydiving packages, learning to be a barista, behind the scenes tours of places, lunch with local celebrities. Other good donations are: Gift cards, new items, musical instruments, art.
As for The Burrito Project South Florida, we can take in donations – Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday in the mornings. What’s most needed is men’s clothing, shoes, and toiletries.
And yes, we are always looking for musical instruments to be donated to our Creative Arts Academy.
Tell us about your family.
KO: We have three kids; all are married. We have five grandkids (ranging between one year to 10 years old). Two of the grandkids live in Fort Worth, Texas. I’ve been married to Mike for 40 years. He serves as the pastor for the Common Ground Church. We celebrated our anniversary with a trip to Europe just a couple of months ago.
Tell us about your new children’s book.
KO: Mike and I recently wrote a children’s book, inspired by our one grandson. It was a creative endeavor. It’s titled, “Adventures of my Magic Sleep Sack” and is available on Amazon. Our grandson loves to sleep in his sleep sack. It got me thinking that when he’s dreaming at night, the sleep sack takes him on adventures. I wrote the concept, but Mike is a great writer too. I made sure everything rhymed, kind of in the style of Dr. Seuss. The whole process took about a year. It’s a 3-in-1 book. The front side is in English, but you can flip it over and the book is in Spanish. There’s also a middle section filled with coloring pages from the book.
Anything else?
KO: I just want to add that there’s always a creative solution. Never limit yourself to just what’s “inside the box.”
