Photo courtesy of The Heron's Nest

The City of Seattle announced grants for seven community-driven projects serving neighborhoods along the Duwamish River. As part of the Duwamish River Opportunity Fund, these projects will help to increase the sustainability of the neighborhoods impacted by the Superfund clean-up. The projects will begin this year and will continue into 2023.

“Seattle is committed to investing in and supporting healthy and vibrant communities in the Duwamish Valley,” said Mayor Bruce Harrell. “Our goal is not just to undo decades of industrial pollution and environmental injustice in these neighborhoods — it’s to build a thriving future for the communities who call them home. Projects like these and our equity-centered Green New Deal investments are critical to that effort. Congratulations to these grant recipients and thank you for your leadership, vision, and action to better our city and communities.”

Decades of industry near the Duwamish have left significant contamination in the mud and along the river’s banks. In 2001, The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed a 5.5 mile stretch of the Duwamish River as a Superfund cleanup site. Since then, the City of Seattle, King County, the Port of Seattle and the Boeing Company have invested over $100 Million in early cleanup actions to reduce contamination by 50 percent, while also working to eliminate ongoing sources of contamination.

Since 2014, the Duwamish River Opportunity Fund has granted more than $1.8 million to community projects focused on quality-of-life enhancements in the neighborhoods of South Park, Georgetown, and SODO. The fund is one component of a broader City effort to improve the quality of life and restore the health of Duwamish River communities.

What Grantees Are Saying

“The Duwamish River Opportunity Fund is providing the Heron’s Nest Land Back & Education project with the opportunity to expand outreach and access to outdoor education and community building experiences within the Duwamish River Valley and across waterways. By providing continued access to resources, shared traditional knowledge and working together to protect land, water and peoples, we continue to invest in the health of future generations.” – A. Lee, Volunteer Field Director, Heron’s Nest

“South Park Senior Center (SPSC) is so excited to have been awarded funding through the Duwamish River Opportunity Fund! This community partnership will provide specialized social support services for the Cambodian Seniors we serve, reducing the barriers they experience, and ensuring their health and wellbeing.  Additionally, SPSC will continue to bring 450+ homemade, nutritious, and culturally-relevant meals to our seniors each month.” – Katherine Jordan, Executive Director, South Park Senior Center

“The Georgetown Super 8 (GS8) Film Festival mission is to use the creation of amateur Super 8 films to ensure that a diversity of Duwamish Valley community voices can define, document, and tell the story of their neighborhood. With the support of the Duwamish River Opportunity Fund grant, we will be able to expand our film scholarship and film training program available to low-income residents, youth organizations, and BIPOC filmmakers.” – Wynne Pei, Executive Director, Georgetown Super 8

2022 Duwamish River Opportunity Fund Awards

• $11,000 to Bike Works to support bringing BikeMobile to South Park and Georgetown. The BikeMobile will provide free and sliding-scale bike repair to residents, and give away a limited number of bikes, helmets, and locks to youth and adults with financial need.
• $40,000 to Concord International Elementary School PTA to help address systemic inequities in their school community by supporting investments in Concord teachers, providing enrichment programs for students, and facilitating community events.
• $33,000 to Georgetown Super 8 to support the Georgetown Super 8 Film Festival which seeks to foster inclusive dialogue and ensure a diversity of community voices are defining, documenting, and telling the story of the Duwamish Valley community.
• $40,000 to Heron’s Nest to help sustain the organization’s various programs, pay fair wages to coordinating and consulting positions, train 20 land stewards, pay stipends at restoration events, and build out two new facilities: a community kitchen and a self-recycling hub.
• $40,000 to Pumas Play to fund the construction documents and permitting for South Park’s Puma Playfield. The Puma Playfield Project is working to transform the eastern portion of the Concord International Elementary campus into an activity hub that facilitates and encourages play and healthy activities for the school community and surrounding neighborhood.
• $40,000 to Shared Spaces Foundation in support of their Duwamish River Program, which works to build a strong community network of water and land protectors, and helps people get trained to be water-based tour guides.
• $40,000 to South Park Senior Center to support the Community Connection: Culture, Compassion, and Movement program that invests in the resilience of the Duwamish River Valley through access to nutritious cultural meals, supportive social services, and physical activity.

To learn more about the Duwamish River Opportunity Fund, visit seattle.gov/neighborhoods/programs-and-services/duwamish-river-opportunity-fund. For questions, call (206) 233-0093 or email drof@seattle.gov.