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Mayor Murray Announces $250,000 for Duwamish River Neighborhood Projects

Duwamish River

Duwamish River (Photo: Benjamin Cody)

Today Mayor Murray announced $250,000 from the Duwamish River Opportunity Fund has been awarded to four community projects supporting neighborhoods along the Duwamish River. This fund provides support to programs focused on challenges faced by Duwamish River neighborhoods during the Superfund clean-up.

“The neighborhoods along the Duwamish have had to struggle with significant environmental challenges due to the river’s contamination,” said Mayor Murray. “The Duwamish River Opportunity Fund is one facet of the City’s commitment to support the needs of these communities during the ongoing cleanup and to help promote a healthy and thriving community.”

The projects will be implemented this year and will continue into 2017.

The 2016 Duwamish River Opportunity Fund Awards

  • $46,000 to Catalyst to support business recruitment and attraction in the South Park business district, working in partnership with the South Park Area Redevelopment Committee.
  • $70,000 to Just Health Action to develop a peer training program for Vietnamese and Latino subsistence fishers about fishing regulations, sustainable resource protections, and fish consumption health advisories.
  • $75,000 to Seattle Parks Foundation to fund a program manager to continue the Duwamish Valley Green Spaces program; and create and teach a new outdoor air quality curriculum for the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps, including hands-on experience locating, installing, and maintaining a green wall.
  • $59,000 to Seattle Good Business Network to pilot a co-production and training sewing studio, create opportunities for flexible employment via freelance sewing opportunities, and continue to revitalize the local sewn-goods economy through resource and coalition development.

About the Duwamish River Opportunity Fund
The City of Seattle is working to make the Superfund cleanup of the Duwamish River result in the optimum outcome for the river and its adjacent neighborhoods. In addition to its commitment to the clean-up efforts, the City recognizes that the communities along the Duwamish have many needs. To address some of these, the Duwamish River Opportunity Fund was created in 2014 to enhance existing programs and support new ones. Seattle Department of Neighborhoods manages the fund.