Partner News, Awards and Acknowledgements! (May 2022)

Partners in the News

Updated 5/26/2022

King County Announces Funding Awards for Two Affordable Housing Projects in Skyway-West Hill:

Following years of community organizing, $5 million was successfully secured in King County’s 2021-22 Biennial Budget in the Housing and Community Development Fund to directly address displacement and housing affordability in the area…. “This funding is the outcome of so much community power,” said Rebecca Berry, manager at Skyway Coalition. “The Skyway community drove the advocacy for the allocation of these funds, created a vision to increase homeownership in Skyway and established our partnership with Homestead Community Land Trust. It is inspiring to see Skyway modeling what can be done when the community’s voices and needs are centered in development. With this investment in Skyway, many of our Black, Indigenous and families of color will have an opportunity to own a house in the community they call home, a place that is reflective of, and celebrates their identity and lived experiences.”

“Como La Flor”, the fourth seasonal Mercado presented by Comunidad Latina de Vashon was featured in the Vashon Island, Beachcomber news, At ‘Como La Flor,’ Latino arts, music and culture will bloom:

“We are celebrating and sharing our brilliance, resilience, and joy in the yummiest, most fun way possible,” said Comunidad’s lead organizer, Cynthia Ramos.

Ramos added the Mercado is much more than a one-day event.

“We have been working on small business development and more robust economic opportunities year-round, through trainings and discussions about systems shifts needed for us to flourish, and more,” she said. “We are proud that members of the first cohort of Mercado participants are now year-round businesses.”

Global to Local receives funding from the Northwest Area Foundation (NWAF) to “help them plan for their changemaking futures with confidence.”

Para los Niños was featured in Burien magazine! Para los Niños Celebrates New Programs in a New Space

When asked how the new space was working for them, Herrera said that it makes them more visible, which helps increase their reach and support for the organization.

“It’s a place for the community to gather,” said Herrera. “The assets that our community brings—culture, resilience, learning, and fun—are visible in the new space.”

Pillar featured in Yahoo! News: Pillar Launches Economic Recovery Effort for Small Businesses in Rainier Valley, Fueled by Philanthropic Dollars and Local Partnerships:

"The Pillar grant is oxygen," said Carlos Imani, owner of Elite Collective. "It's given us the air we need to continue doing what we've been doing for our neighborhood businesses—everything from branding to websites—which helps them navigate this new normal created by the pandemic."

Wa Na Wari, Africatown Community Land Trust (Africatown CLT) and other COO community partners featured in the Seattle Times series on the neighborhood and community surrounding 23rd and Union in the Central District (Seattle, WA).

How Wa Na Wari uses art to enliven the Central District and keep Black residents in their homes:

All of this work is a glimpse at the expansiveness of Wa Na Wari’s work. It’s part art curation and part history keeping, but a significant portion of this “experiment,” as its leaders call it, is seeing if arts and culture can stop displacement. Wokoma, in whose family home Wa Na Wari resides, leads the work of Central Area Cultural Ecosystem 21st Century, the company’s community organizing initiative focused on anchoring Black homeownership and fighting Black displacement in the city. 

This City Block: ‘The lesson of 23rd and Union is that there’s a way’

“[Twenty-third] and Union will continue to be a significant epicenter of the struggle to ensure that our community can continue to grow and thrive in place,” [Africatown CLT president and CEO] Garrett said. “We have found some models that if iterated upon, improved upon, and taken to scale, can help Seattle move toward becoming a world-class city, inclusive of the communities of the world that have helped make the city, and not the current trajectory, which is to be a more exclusive, one-class city.”

Africatown Community Land Trust president and CEO, K. Wyking Garrett is also quoted in this Capital Hill News feature on Village Gardens — Seattle’s first ‘Community Preference’ homes — ready to hit Central District real estate market:

“The Black Community has called the Central District home for almost 140 years. It is absolutely critical that our community have access to affordable homeownership such as the homes at Village Gardens in order to be part of the future of the neighborhood,” K. Wyking Garrett, President and CEO of Africatown Community Land Trust, said in an announcement of the opening. “Homestead and Edge were responsive to the messages from the community about what is built and who it built for and who it is built with. This project represents a light on the path, and that another future is possible.”

Resources, Opportunities & Events

Updated 5/23

Alphabet Alliance of Color (AAOC) 2022 Alphabet Institute 

The Alphabet Institute is designed to facilitate leadership development within QTBIPOC communities in Seattle-King County by connecting a cohort of mentees to local leaders, organizers, healers, mentors & their projects & organizations. Apply by June 1st!

Applications for mentees, mentors and general leaders are here:
https://alphabetalliance.org/leadership-institute
Information sheet here.

API Chaya - Making TJ PODS-sible: A 4-part Series on Building Your Pod! Part 2

TJ Skill Shares | Making TJ PODS-sible: A 4-part Series on Building Your Pod!
Are you new to pod-mapping? Join us on this 4-part series on pod-mapping where we will dive deeper on how to build your own pod/s.

What is a pod? “Your pod is made up of the people that you would call on if violence, harm or abuse happened to you; or the people that you would call on if you wanted support in taking accountability for violence, harm or abuse that you’ve done; or if you witnessed violence or if someone you care about was being violent or being abused.” - Mia Mingus (Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective)

Over the course of four months API Chaya will cover the following topics:

  • Monday, March 28 |5:30-8 PM PST - Series 1: Why Pod-map?

  • Monday, April 25 | 5:30-8 PM PST - Series 2: How to Pod-map?

  • Monday, May 23 | 5:30-8 PM PST - Series 3: Conversations to have with your pod

  • Monday, June 27 | 5:30-8 PM PST - Series 4: Growing & sustaining your pod

Registration link: http://tinyurl.com/podmap22
For access needs, questions or concerns, contact priyan@apichaya.org.
**These are interactive sessions so please come prepared to engage & connect with fellow participants.

About API Chaya
API Chaya empowers survivors of gender-based violence and human trafficking to gain safety, connection, and wellness. They build power by educating and mobilizing South Asian, Asian, Pacific Islander, and all immigrant communities to end exploitation, creating a world where all people can heal and thrive. Learn more at www.apichaya.org

Native Neighborhood Survey

Share your thoughts for a Native Neighborhood! The Indigenous Seattle Working Group and Na'ah Illahee Fund have been collaborating on a community survey that is made by and for Native and Indigenous Peoples who live, work, visit, or get services in Seattle. This survey is the first step toward building a Native Neighborhood that can be anything from a single building to multiple blocks.

What are your hopes and dreams for a Native Neighborhood in Seattle? Your answers to this quick 15-minute survey can help build a place of belonging for the Seattle Native Community. Information from the survey will be anonymously included in a report that will advocate for more funding and resources. After taking the survey, you can enter a drawing for prizes made by local Native artists. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Demarus Tevuk at skoden@naahillahee.org.

Survey Link Here!

Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy community conversations!

This year, the Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy (VSHSL) is partnering with community partners from across King County to host a series of community conversations to receive YOUR input on issues related to the VSHSL. VSHSL will be hosting more conversations as the year goes on, so stay tuned!

This community conversation is open to all King County residents, but will focus on communities in and around certain regions of King County at each conversation.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON ZOOM!

Conversations by community/city/region can be registered for here, including:

See the eventbrite page for all sessions!

AT THESE COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS WE WILL:

  • Provide a brief update on the state of Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy

  • Learn from community partners and providers on what went well during the levy

  • Discuss what needs improvement going forward.

You can expect smaller breakout rooms and large group sharing. Live closed captioning for all Zoom participants will be provided. You have the right to language access services at no cost to you. To request these services, please indicate in the Eventbrite registration ticket. CONTACT: VSHSL@kingcounty.gov

Partner Job Opportunities

Current opportunities with COO community & institutional partners (updated 5/26/2022):

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