World Asthma Day (May 2nd) and Asthma Awareness Month

The Duwamish River Community Coalition recognizes World Asthma Day on May 2nd, 2023 and Asthma Awareness Month. The Duwamish Valley is disproportionately impacted by environmental injustices such as air pollution. High rates of air pollution are typically found in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color as a result of highways, factories, and airports being placed in these neighborhoods. Exposure to air pollution can exacerbate respiratory illness and lead to missed days at work and school as well as increased emergency room visits. DRCC is conducting asthma-related research, in partnership with the local community, SeaMar, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, Public Health - Seattle and King County, non-profit Just Health action, and a research team the University of Washington School of Public Health, to tackle the issue of poor air quality in the Duwamish Valley. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can take action against air pollution in the Duwamish Valley, contact lissette@drcc.org. 

Duwamish Valley Youth Corps

With several exciting events already behind them, our Spring cohorts have been busy this season! On April 15th, our youth participated in Duwamish Alive, and helped to install roughly 10 yards of goose fencing along the banks of the Duwamish River at Həʔapus Village Park. Afterwards, they dug up and transplanted over a dozen native grasses into the area where the fence was installed. They learned the value of restoration work, and how dividing plants on site can be a resourceful way to practice environmental stewardship. If you attended the Air Fair on April 22nd, you may have had the opportunity to meet and work with 9 of our wonderful youth. They helped to facilitate the distribution of over 30 box fans and air filters to the community. And finally, on April 29th, several of our youth had the opportunity to take a boat tour on the Duwamish River. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day to be out on the water, learning about our beautiful river. 

In addition to these community events, we have more fun and educational outings planned for our youth, including the King County Career Day: Jobs for Clean Water, the upcoming One Seattle Day of Service event, and a special tour of the Georgetown Steamplant. We are also excited to continue our partnership with the University of Washington nursing students. Last season the UW nurses taught our youth how to best prepare for and support community in the event of a flood. This season they are teaching about the importance of mental health, how to manage stress, and the many different tools and resources available to practice healthy mental hygiene. We are so excited to continue our work to empower the Duwamish Valley youth, and we can’t wait to share more stories in our next newsletter - stay tuned!

In collaboration with WE ACT for Environmental Justice, DRCC co-hosted the Seattle tour stop for Justice 40ward.  The tours are designed to optimize the potential of Justice40 and connect frontline communities like ours  directly with Agency staff and members of the Biden Administration to lay the groundwork for critical investments to come to our communities.

Local officials from the Port of Seattle, City Council, and representatives from the offices of the U.S. Senate and U.S. The House of Representatives and the met with local organizations, and members of local government including the City, County, State.  We were also thrilled to host environmental justice activist and Senior Advisor to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Robin Morris Collin, and representatives from other federal agencies including Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development.  We shared a full day together including DRCC leading a “toxic boat tour’ along our Duwamish River.

This event was a great opportunity to discuss Environmental Justice community priorities and future investments. We hope that this convening will be the first of many collaborative efforts with the community and local, state, and federal leadership as we work to secure funding for community-led projects and infrastructure updates. DRCC continues to advocate for implementing meaningful change to support the policies that will end harmful pollution and the disproportionate impacts that our communities face as a result of historic disinvestment.