Friends of Detective Cookie Chess Park

Congratulations to 20 community organizations awarded grants from Seattle Department of Neighborhoods’ Neighborhood Matching Fund. These funds will go toward projects created and implemented by Seattle groups and organizations. The grants range from $13,950 to $25,000, and organizations have pledged a total of $789,312 to match their awards through local cash donations, volunteer hours, donated materials, and in-kind professional services.

“The best way to create a more inclusive, diverse, and vibrant city is by elevating the voices and priorities of our community-based organizations. Today’s funding recipients are the best of Seattle, showcasing our cultural wealth within a broad range of projects and with deep community engagement. With new investments from the Neighborhood Matching Fund, these organizations can build even stronger community connections.”

Mayor Jenny A. Durkan

The Neighborhood Matching Fund offers grants to organizations committed to fostering and building our community. It has two funds: the Community Partnership Fund, which is offered three times a year with awards up to $25,000; and Small Sparks Fund, which is offered on a rolling basis throughout most of the year with awards of up to $5,000. To learn more about the guidelines, visit our webpage.

Over its 31-year history, more than 5,000 projects have been funded in partnership with the NMF Program, and its investment in neighborhoods can be seen across the city. For information about NMF, visit seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nmf/.

2019 Community Partnership Fund Awards – Fall Cycle

Citywide

• $25,000 to African American Reach and Teach Health for the Chronic Disease & Mental Health Outreach Project, a series of activities aimed at increasing awareness and knowledge around how to better address chronic health conditions, reduce the stigma of mental health, and create a network of peer supporters. (Community match: $12,800)
• $15,000 to Brazil Center for BrasilFest 2020 happening on August 16 at Seattle Center. The event will include music, food, dancing, theatre, film, workshops and children’s activities.  (Community match: $7,540)
• $25,000 to Center for Linguistic and Cultural Democracy for Caribbean Sea Fest 2020, a family-oriented event that brings together the culturally and linguistically diverse members of the Caribbean Community in the Pacific Northwest for a day of cultural performances, cultural expression, and cultural exchange. (Community match: $21,800)
• $25,000 to Festival Centro Americano to organize a festival to celebrate the cultures of Central America. Occurring next August, it will include a day of cultural performances, cultural expression, and cultural exchange. (Community match: $18,000)
• $25,000 to Friends of OCA – Greater Seattle for In A Yellow Tone, a modern docu-fiction honoring the Chinese American veterans who will finally earn their Congressional Gold Medal in 2019. (Community match: $19,500)
• $24,760 to Tet in Seattle to organize the annual Tḗt in Seattle Festival, a free event that celebrates the cultural roots of Vietnamese Americans through recognition of the Lunar New Year. The two-day festival will be held at the Seattle Center on January 18-19, 2020.   (Community match: $115,700)
• $25,000 to Thingyverse for the Small Humans Arts & Culture Tour, the nation’s first touring arts performance program designed for babies and toddlers. The program will include a series of playful artist and baby workshops in four socio-economically diverse Seattle neighborhoods and culminate in free performances in April 2020. (Community match: $33,700)
• $25,000 to Unified Outreach to produce the Race & Culture Dialogue Series, a series of six events that will provide new and innovative ways of discussing and providing credible concepts for disassembling institutional and historic racism. (Community match: $37,090)
• $24,970 to Orca Month Leadership Team for Orca Month, a series of events that will celebrate and advocate the recovery of the critically endangered Southern Resident orca population. Participants will be provided with concrete actions they can take to improve the health and well-being of Puget Sound for orcas and people alike. (Community match: $12,541)

District 2

• $13,950 to Beacon Hill International School PTA for Capoeira in Schools, a community collaboration offering free afterschool capoeira classes to elementary-aged students in Southeast Seattle. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines music, dance and acrobatics. (Community match: $10,700)
• $25,000 to Friends of Detective Cookie Chess Park to finalize construction drawings and begin demolition, grading, and drainage work. (Community match: $13,303)
• $25,000 to Helping Link to support a community survey of Seattle’s Vietnamese American population in order to identify how to increase participation within the Vietnamese American community and to increase the community’s presence in Seattle. (Community match: $13,010)
• $24,460 to International Capoeira Angola Foundation – Seattle for Community Cultural Celebrations, a series of free monthly events at the Union Cultural Center that showcase cultural arts from the African Diaspora, and bring community together to share, learn and participate in the vibrant cultures found in our region. (Community match: $12,350)

District 3

• $24,835 to Judge Charles V. Johnson Youth and Law Forum in support of a fun, interactive and free community legal education program for teens and pre-teens, parents and guardians. (Community match: $26,767)
• $24,894 to One Vibe Africa for Kijiji Night at Seattle Art Museum on February 6, an evening dedicated to celebrating the African Diaspora through live hip hop and traditional African musical performances, storytelling, poetry and fresh food. (Community match: $14,500)
• $25,000 to Volunteer Park Trust to fund partial costs of developing construction documents for the planned upgrade of the Volunteer Park Amphitheater. (Community match: $43,240)

District 4

• $25,000 to Friends of the Troll’s Knoll to hire a designer to create a design plan for Troll’s Knoll Park, hire an artist to create and install artwork, and develop local leaders by investing in leadership training in the Pomegranate method. (Community match: $12,780)

District 7

• $25,000 to Magnolia Chamber of Commerce to support efforts to create welcoming and sustainable gathering places in the heart of Magnolia’s retail core through several streetscape improvements on West McGraw Street. (Community match: $55,602)
• $18,468 to Martin Luther King Jr Way Blockwatch for the Annual Community Winter Celebration on December 15 at the Mercy Housing Othello Plaza. This event is designed to bring neighbors of different nationalities/religions together in the spirit of togetherness, community, and support. (Community match: $120,339)
• $25,000 to Seattle Repertory Theatre for Public Works Seattle using theatre to connect people across the city. A twelve-week series of free workshops, rehearsals, performances and acting intensives will be offered during late winter and spring 2020.  (Community match: $188,050)