You are invited for an evening of celebration and community! 

In 2024, the Duwamish River Community Coalition will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of our Duwamish Valley Youth Corps. We have had many cohorts of youth leadership since 2014 who have contributed to the betterment of our community.  

On October 10, we invite you to join us for our annual fundraiser, the Beer and Chocolate Fest!  We are excited to gather at the Sea Mar Museum of Chicano/a/ Latino/a Culture for an evening of connection, togetherness, beer and chocolate!

Georgetown Neighborhood Center 

The Georgetown Community Council has recently absorbed the newly formed Neighborhood Center Visioning Group (NCVG). The NCVG received funding from the City’s Green New Deal to engage consultants for a study and outreach work to determine what community members would like to see. The NCVG has decided to move forward with short-term actions, they are seeking funding to rent or lease space and to begin programming, with long-term plans to launch a capital campaign and develop a community-owned Neighborhood Center! DRCC has been supporting by attending meetings and providing input. To learn more about everything in Georgetown, check out the GT Gazette:

SPNA needs more neighbors! 

The South Park Neighborhood Association is planning to do more community events in an effort to build membership up to pre-COVID numbers. On September 28 they co-hosted a cleanup of the “Scary Trail” to make it more pleasant to walk and bike; on 10/26 they are planning a Spooky Stroll (thanks to the Georgetown Community Council for inspiration!) and in 2025 they are planning a logo contest–look out for your chance enter and win the chance to design SPNA’s brand new logo!

What is happening with the South Park Flood Community Advisory Group?

Funded by SPU and led by Villa Comunitaria, Just Health Action, and DRCC is getting prepared for their first meeting of the 2024/25 King Tide season. In this meeting they will determine a meeting schedule and ongoing agenda items; check in with flood-impacted community members about the King Tide dates and preparation, and update on items they have been researching, including flood insurance and other supports.

DRCC in Detroit with the CREWS!

DRCC’s Advocacy Manager (Robin) attended the Kresge Foundation’s 2024 Climate Resilient and Equitable Water Systems (CREWS) Convening last month. The CREWS initiative consists of more than 30 organizations working to advance equitable solutions to climate-related storm and flood impacts on low-income communities. She spent 2.5 days in Detroit with water utility leaders, community-based organizations, environmental nonprofits, environmental justice organizations, neighborhood coalitions, academic and applied research institutions, artistic and cultural expression leaders, project developers and funders discussing the intersection of water, climate resilience, and equity. Robin was able to attend site visits with community organizations in SW Detroit; she found that hearing from and about communities experiencing legacies of disinvestment and underrepresentation similar to the Duwamish Valley was both upsetting and inspiring. She had this to say, “Our systems work so hard to consolidate power and money; sharing our stories and building our capacity as neighbors and communities is a big step to forcing our systems to share power and achieve more sustainable and equitable outcomes for one another”.

Our Fall cohort is under way, and we have some very exciting projects coming up! This season we are collaborating with Seattle Public Utilities to provide feedback and ideas to help design the future South Park Water Quality Facility! This is a new development that will be located next to Tattatucid Park (also known as Gears Park), and will connect to the South Park Pump Station to clean stormwater runoff before it is released into the Duwamish River. We are so grateful to our partners at Seattle Public Utilities for centering the voices of our youth and making sure that they have a seat at the table when it comes to designing such valuable infrastructure in South Park. If you would like to learn more about this project, please visit: https://www.seattle.gov/utilities/neighborhood-projects/south-park-water-quality Or better yet, join us at our annual Environmental Justice Youth Forum on Saturday November, 23rd! This event is a celebration to recognize all of the hard work that our youth have done, and an opportunity for folks to learn about what they have been up to during the fall program. Each cohort will be presenting and sharing about their experience. This event is free and open to everyone! Stay tuned to our newsletters to learn more!

“NO” on I-2117

We can’t let I-2117 pollute our future. This dangerous, deceptive initiative would increase air pollution…and worsen health issues like asthma and heart conditions.

How else is Climate and Environmental Justice showing up on your ballot in Washington State?

We need your feedback to understand Climate Impacts in the Duwamish Valley!

DRCC and WE ACT in Memphis Tennessee

In September, DRCC traveled to Memphis, Tennessee with WE ACT for Environmental Justice and other Environmental Justice organizations from across the country! They met collaboratively with other member organizations to discuss challenges, solutions, and areas for growth in the movement. Specifically, they discussed federal grants/grant writing, community benefits planning, and federal disparities mapping tools.

We have #StrongVoicesEJ and are better together! We’re so excited to be joining #EnvironmentalJustice organizations from across the country for the @EJforum Environmental Justice Leadership Forum Convening 2024 to collaborate, inspire one another, and grow our skills to continue to protect our communities at the local and federal level. Our groups are build on the legacy of our ancestors to grow as the leaders and coalitions that stand up to ensure the right to clean air, water and land.

River cleanup construction begins and we want to hear from community!

Clean Air Program and our local Youth!

DAISY- Healthy Home visits happening!

Fall 2024 brings with our DAISY project the beginning of the third stage which consists of the Ecological Clean-up Visits or Healthy Home Visits done by our team of Community Health Workers or the Promotores to the homes of families in the Duwamish River Valley who are currently participating in the program. September was the month in which we started with these visits which seek to teach families who have children with asthma, simple ecological and efficient strategies to reduce asthma triggers within the home, including dust, moisture, mold and the presence of pests, avoiding the use of chemicals and toxic elements sold in the market. With simple elements such as water, vinegar, lemon juice or baking soda, our CHW team have shared with DV families some tips and recommendations on how to clean their homes in an environmentally friendly way to help reduce asthma rates in children. Likewise, our team has taught these families how to replace the air filters in the fans assigned to each home as part of the program, thus contributing to a proper and sustainable disposal of the waste generated by the used filter.

Emerald and the Duwamish River story

“She was surprised and told us that in school she had not been told that there was a river in the city of Seattle, that she knew that there could be problems when the pipes clogged because there could be floods in the cities, but she did not know that the river was there and even less that it was contaminated...”