Dan Kaufman recalls his own sense of marginalization when he was a boy growing up in a Los Angeles neighborhood where there was a clear delineation between the haves and the have-nots.

It was that experience that led him to become a psychologist and begin working with people with disabilities — individuals, he noted, who often find themselves on the fringes of community life.

Now, he and others are bringing this concept of belonging to a larger stage on Vashon. They’ve begun what they’re calling the Welcome Project, an effort to bring together a diverse array of Islanders — including those who often find themselves left out of community life — and encourage them to develop community projects they’d like to embrace, projects that would not only engage them but also enhance life on Vashon.

The goal, said Kaufman, is not only to create some meaningful projects but to help Islanders realize “we all belong here.”

“It’s more about the process than it is about the outcome,” said Kaufman. “It’s really the medium that’s the message for me.”

The project started out focusing on individuals with disabilities, he said. But as he engaged others in the process, it soon

morphed into something bigger — an effort to cross a number of demographic lines to include the elderly and the young, people of color, those who speak English and those who don’t, gays and lesbians, the disabled and the disenfranchised, community leaders and leaders-to-be.

The first gathering will take place on Saturday, Feb. 5, at the Open Space for Arts & Community, where, following a free breakfast, Islanders with passions for various projects will step forward and invite others to join them — using an approach in large-group facilitation called “Open Space Technology.”

Kaufman notes that the concept may seem fuzzy. “But I don’t think it’ll be fuzzy on the day of the event. I think it’ll be very powerful,” he said.

Janie Starr, another one of the organizers, concurred.

“We are looking for more than creative ideas,” she said. “We are looking for people who will grab ahold of what excites them and turn it into reality.”

Organizers are particularly pleased by the facilitators who have stepped forward to help with the event — Jim Diers and Bruce Anderson, Islanders who are well-known and highly accomplished in the field of participatory democracy and what Diers’ calls “asset-based community development.”

Diers, the former head of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods, is the author of “Neighbor Power: Building Community the Seattle Way” and currently teaches courses in architecture and social work at the University of Washington. Anderson is co-manager of an organization called Community Activators, which also uses asset-based strategies to empower organizations and communities.

Since stepping down from the city several years ago, Diers has taken his work and message to communities around the world. He’s pleased, he said, to have a chance to bring his focus on community development to Vashon, where, despite the community’s vibrancy and strength, some find themselves disenfranchised and disengaged.

“As amazing as Vashon is, we fall into categories and certain populations here,” he said. “And even on Vashon, we need to ask ourselves: How do we build an inclusive community?”

The goal, he added, isn’t necessarily to get Islanders to do more work — although those who want to take on an ambitious project will be welcome to — but to find more ways for people from diverse segments of the community to come together.

In one community where he stepped in as a facilitator, people had recently started a “just say ‘hi’ campaign,” he said. “I though, gee, this is going to be hokey. But when I got there, everybody was so friendly.”

Asset-based community development, he added, is jargon for what he considers a simple concept: “It’s really just building on people’s strength.”

Raven Pyle-McCrackyn, an Islander who has struggled with feelings of inclusion, said she’s looking forward to the event. The mother of an autistic boy, she said she moved to Vashon in part because she imagined she’d have a rich life with other mothers — an experience that has proved elusive because of the special needs of her son James.

“There are a lot of agencies serving a lot of people on Vashon,” she noted. “But there are a lot of Vashoners working with other Vashoners. … There are a lot of people on Vashon who feel quite alone.”

Now, she said, she’s looking forward to finding ways not only for her son to connect with the larger community, but for ways that she, too, can find a deeper sense of community life.

“It’s not only for James,” she said. “It’s also for me.”

The Welcome Project, also called “We All Belong,” will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 5, at the Open Space for Arts & Community. The event, which includes breakfast, is free. Sponsers include Vashon Chamber of Commerce, Learn 2 Earn and Community Activators, with grant support from Sustainable Vashon.

For more information, e-mail Dan Kaufman at dan@integralpotential.com.