Community-Wealth City: Seattle, Washington

With an estimated population of 570,000, Seattle is a major economic, cultural and educational center of the Pacific Northwest. According to the 2006-2008 American Community Survey, Seattle is 71-percent white, 13-percent Asian American, 8-percent African American, and 6-percent Latino. Having ranked as first or second for the last four years as the most literate city in the nation, it also holds the title as the most educated large city in the country - with more than 53 percent of the population having a college degree or higher.

In 2005, after the Kyoto Protocol had become law in 141 countries, former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels launched an initiative to bring these same climate change goals to American cities. By May 2007, the 500th mayor had signed on to the U.S. Conference of Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement. His advocacy help lead to the creation of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program, enabling U.S. cities, counties, and states for the first time to receive grants specifically to fund energy-efficiency projects. EECBG recently received $2.8 billion in stimulus funds.

Seattle also is often a leader in sustainability initiatives. Launched officially in April 2009, Seattle's Green Building Capital Initiative uses $6 million in EECBG money to develop green collar jobs and promote building energy-efficiency. A significant portion of this money - $1.2 million - capitalized a revolving loan fund with ShoreBank Enterprise Cascadia, a local Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), to provide low-interest loans to Seattleites for energy-efficiency retrofits.

Another city-driven sustainability project has been Thorton Place, a transit-oriented, mixed-use project in the Northgate neighborhood. While Seattle has historically suffered from severe traffic congestion, Seattle has aimed to change this by expanding public transit availability. In 2003, construction began to develop Northgate, which was then simply an 8-acre lot of empty asphalt and a Metro Park-N-Ride. Completed in 2009, Thorton Place consists of 109 LEED-certified condos, 278 LEED-certified apartments (20 percent affordable), a 14-screen cinema, 50,000 square feet of retail, and a 143-units of housing for senior citizens positioned at a bus transit hub and future light rail station area. The complex also includes 2.5 acres of green open space and helped partially restore Thorton Creek, which had been redirected underground for many years.

Another important citywide step to help combat congestion and improve livability has been the Bicycle Master Plan. Initiated in 2008, the plan establishes a 10-project to create a 450-mile network of on-and off-street bicycle facilities that connect all parts of city. To date, Seattle has installed 56 miles of new bike lanes, including the city's first 2.5-mile bicycle boulevard, and has increased education/encouragement programs to promote bicycle commuting.

An overview of community wealth building efforts follows:

Anchor Institutions

Catholic Housing Services of Western Washington
www.ccsww.org
Supported by Catholic dioceses and established in 1979, Catholic Housing Services of Western Washington (CHS) is a mission driven faith based agency that develops, owns and manages affordable housing programs for low-income families and individuals. With an annual operating budget of nearly $18 million and assets of more than $190 million, owned or under management, CHS is responsible for more than 1,900 housing units across 44 properties throughout Western Washington.

LATCH (Lutheran Alliance To Create Housing)
www.latch.org
LATCH is a coalition of 34 Lutheran church congregations in the Puget Sound area that builds and maintains affordable permanent housing for households between 30 percent and 50 percent of median income, develops resident-managed cooperatives and advocates for public policies that support affordable housing development and address the needs of low-income residents. Formed in 1990, it now owns and operates 205 apartments.

Seattle Foundation
www.seattlefoundation.org
Established in 1946, the Seattle Foundation is one of the nation's largest community foundations, with total assets in excess of $600 million. In 2008, the Seattle Foundation granted more than $63 million to over 2,000 organizations and program initiatives in King County and the surrounding area. One of these initiatives, the Building Resilience Fund, aims to raise $6 million over three years to assist those most affected by the current recession. To date, the fund has given out $2.8 million to the community in direct grants and funding, prevented foreclosure and eviction for 1,860 people, provided an additional 17,500, and connected nearly 75 individuals to range of asset-building services.

Seattle University Micro-Fund
www.seattleu.edu/albers/inner.aspx?id=23000
This $1 million Seattle University micro-fund will assist current programs of community based micro-lending organizations Community Capital Development and Washington CASH, enabling them to expand their client pool and, at times, providing necessary equity funding.

Community Development Corporations

Capitol Hill Housing
http://capitolhillhousing.org
Initially formed in response to economic disinvestment in Seattle's Capital Hill neighborhood, Capital Hill Housing (CHH) grew rapidly within its first few years, including the development of a Home Improvement Loan Program and Homesharing for Seniors Program. Since 1976, CHH has helped developed more than 1,000 units of affordable housing and now owns 42 buildings in Seattle. One of its recent projects, Broadway Crossing, was ranked best overall project by Affordable Housing Finance magazine in 2008, due to its ability to balance the commercial demands of Walgreens on the ground floor, while still generating affordable, LEED silver certified, and transit-oriented housing for community residents.

Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association
www.dnda.org
Since 1996, the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA) has worked to strengthen the community of Delridge in West Seattle by preserving affordable housing, improving the pedestrian environment, supporting local artists, and assisting low-income children. Among other initiatives, DNDA manages nearly 150 units of affordable housing, including two model community-building efforts. The first began in 2002 when the Seattle Public Library decided to create a Delridge branch after a proposal by DNDA to build it with 19 units of affordable housing above it. The second was a project that renovated an abandoned school into an 18,000 square foot Arts and Cultural Center with 36 units of live/work studios for low-income artists.

Housing Resources Group
www.hrg.org
Incorporated by the Downtown Seattle Association in 1980, the Housing Resources Group (HRG) creates and manages affordable housing in and around Downtown Seattle. Since that time, HRG has invested more than $140 million, created more than 2,400 units of affordable housing, has raised more than $65,000,000 in equity from bank and corporate investors to construct or preserve affordable housing, and manages nearly 1,700 units across 28 locations in and around Downtown.

InterIm CDA
www.interimicda.org
Striving to promote and revitalize the Chinatown/International District and other Asian and Pacific Islander communities in the Puget Sound area, InternIm CDA builds and renovates affordable housing, leads neighborhood planning initiatives, promotes community building, and works to influence public policy. Formed in 1969 to stem the economic decline of Seattle's Chinatown, InterIm CDA has brought in more than $160 million to the Chinatown/International District for the construction and renovation of more than 500 low-income housing units, social and health services, community-based programs and a 1.5-acre community garden for low-income elderly residents.

Low Income Housing Institute
www.lihi.org
Founded in 1991, LIHI develops housing, provides support services, and advocates on behalf of low-income, homeless and formerly homeless people in Washington State. LIHI owns and/or manages over 1,700 housing units at 50 sites in six counties throughout the Puget Sound region. Eighty percent of LIHI housing is reserved for households earning less than 30 percent of the area median household income.

Plymouth Housing Group
www.plymouthhousing.org
Plymouth Housing Group develops and operates affordable housing, support services, and provides opportunities for those community members suffering from long-term homelessness and/or health disabilities such as those stemming from AIDS or mental illness. Founded in 1980 by concerned members of downtown Seattle's Plymouth Congregational Church, Plymouth Housing Group has since grown to be one of the largest providers of very low-income housing in downtown Seattle. With nearly 1,000 apartment units and 17 retail tenants in 11 buildings, Plymouth Housing group today has an annual operating budget of $11.1 million.

Community Development Financial Institutions

Community Capital Development
www.seattleccd.com
Founded in 1997, Community Capital Development (CCD) is a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) that provides access to capital and business assistance to low-income, women and minority entrepreneurs, and small businesses in distressed and historically underserved communities in the state of Washington. Operating a $6 million loan fund, CCD has provided loans totaling more than $15.3 million to 388 "un-bankable" small businesses, helping to create more than 1200 jobs - of which more than 60% went to low-to-moderate income people.

Impact Capital
www.impactcapital.org
Impact Capital provides financing support to non-profit community-based organizations throughout the Pacific Northwest. Within Washington, Impact Capital has been able to invest more than $92 million, while leveraging more than $2.1 billion in development, helping to contribute $22 to communities for every $1 invested. Since 1994, Impact Capital has helped finance more than 17,000 units of affordable housing, 13 childcare facilities, 11 community centers, two job training facilities, four arts and cultural facilities, and more than 500,000 square feet of retail and industrial space.

Rainier Valley Community Development Fund
www.rvcdf.org
Founded in 2002, the Rainier Valley Community Development manages a $50 million Transit-Oriented Community Development Fund that had been established in 1999 by Seattle's Sound Transit Board. In addition to its primary role to provide mitigation funds to businesses adversely affected by light rail construction, RVCDF is using a part of the money to create a self-sustaining, community-controlled fund that will help steer community development in Rainier Valley over the long term.

ShoreBank Enterprise Cascadia
www.sbpac.com
Serving primarily rural communities in Washington and Oregon since 1995, in 2007, ShoreBank Enterprise Cascadia (SBEC) extended its small business loans and technical assistance to low-income individuals in urban communities, such as Seattle and Portland. As the largest CDFI in the Pacific Northwest, with more than $70 million in capital assets, SBEC has invested more than $60 million in over 400 businesses and has leveraged an additional $255 million in other investments.

Washington CASH
www.washingtoncash.org
Founded in 1995, Washington CASH provides a business training course, micro-credit lending services from $500-$5,000, technical business assistance, and peer support to enable low-income women, people with disabilities, and new immigrants/refugees to start or expand self-employment ventures. As of November 2009, Washington CASH has helped create or expand more than 800 businesses and has trained more than 2,800 people through its business-training course. Maintaining a 96-percent loan repayment rate, it has made 362 loans, totaling $748,000 and has assisted more than 112 individuals increase their assets through its Individual Development Account (IDA) program.

Washington Community Reinvestment Association
www.wcra.net
Focusing on low income and special needs housing and other real estate based economic projects within the state, the Washington Community Reinvestment Association administers three revolving loan pools totaling more than $105 million. Originally formed in 1992 as a consortium of 35 member institutions, today WCRA has added 11 additional financial institutions and increased its lending capacity by nearly 50 percent. To date, WCRA has funded and committed over $232 million in loans, representing 9,049 units of housing and 98,357 square feet of economic development project space.

Community Land Trusts

Homestead Community Land Trust (HCLT)
www.homesteadclt.org
With the purchase of its first home in 2002, Homestead Community Land Trust (HCLT) recently completed the acquisition of its fiftieth permanently affordable house. Planning to surpass 100 homes during 2010, HCLT estimates that each home will provide affordable housing for ten families over the course of its useful life.

Evergreen Land Trust
www.evergreenlandtrust.org
Founded in 1974, the Evergreen Land Trust Association (ELT) holds cooperative houses, farms, and forestlands in the Puget Sound region of Washington State, including three cooperative houses within Seattle: the Prag House, Sunset House, and Sherwood Coop. As the oldest community land trust in the Pacific Northwest, ELT works to develop cooperative communities and sustainable land use practices through the preservation of land and housing. ELT is controlled by a Board of Directors, consisting of two representatives from each held property, and also manages Evergreen Ecoforestry, a low impact logging business that produces lumber and finished wood products.

Cooperatives

Phinney Neighborhood Preschool Coop
www.phinneycenter.org/pnpc/index.html
Creating a family-oriented preschool, the Phinney Neighborhood Preschool Coop is parent-run, requiring that each member parent participate at some level in his or her child's classes. Founded in 1981 from a grant from the Seattle-based Phinney Neighborhood Association, its success has led to expansion grants from the city and the opening of two additional preschool cooperatives - the 65th Preschool Cooperative Street in 2001 and Phinney Cooperativa Preescolar en Español in January 2010.

Apex Belltown Co-op
www.speakeasy.org/~apex/
Purchased in 1981 but requiring nearly three years of sweat equity and significant repairs, the Apex Belltown Co-op was finally deemed livable in 1984. Consisting of four shared kitchens and eight shared bathrooms, plus 20 living units with one, two or three rooms, the cooperative owns and operate 35 percent (two floors) of the former Apex Hotel in Seattle's Belltown District. There are approximately 25 people currently living in the coop.

Central Coop's Madison Market Natural Foods
www.madisonmarket.com/
Certified as Seattle's first organic retailer in 2001, Central Co-op is a member-owned natural foods cooperative that offers free membership to those who are homeless, physically or mentally challenged, or living on a restricted income. Established in 1978, the Central Co-op has had more than 5,000 members-owners join since moving to its new location in 1999. Sales in 2007 were nearly $13 million.

Darigold
www.darigold.com
Producing more than 2 million gallons of milk a day and more than 10 percent of the nation's butter, Darigold is the fourth largest farmer-owned dairy cooperative in the United States and one of the largest privately held organizations in the state of Washington. Founded in 1918, the cooperative has more than 500 member-owners, ranging from those who manage herds as small as 50 cows to those who own more than 20,000.

Group Health Cooperative
www.ghc.org
Founded in 1947, Group Health Cooperative is a consumer-governed, nonprofit health care system that coordinates care and coverage. Based in Seattle, Group Health and its subsidiary health carriers, Group Health Options, Inc. and KPS Health Plans, serve more than half a million residents of Washington state and Idaho with more than 950 physicians.

New Seattle Massage
www.newseattlemassage.com
Possibly the largest of its kind in the nation, New Seattle Massage is a cooperatively owned massage practice consisting of more than 25 Washington State Licensed massage practitioners. The cooperative model allows each of its self-employed practitioners to benefit from pooling resources and group marketing, enabling them to provide clients with amenities that none could offer individually (e.g. steam room, sauna, showers).

People's Memorial Funeral Cooperative
www.funerals.coop
Fully owned by the 80,000 living members of the People's Memorial Association (PMA), People's Memorial Funeral Cooperative (PMFC) is a licensed full-service funeral home providing discounts to its member but also open to the public. In 2007, after the end of a 65-year relationship with an existing funeral service provider over costs, the members of PMA voted unanimously at its April annual meeting to establish PMFC to provide affordable cremation and burial services. As part of its services, PMFC provides environmentally sustainable burials (certified by the Green Burial Council, a national non-profit) and offers carbon-neutral cremations.

PCC (Puget Consumers' Co-op) Natural Markets
www.pccnaturalmarkets.com
Initially a food-buying club of 15 families in 1953, PCC Natural Markets has grown to the largest consumer-owned natural food cooperative in the nation with nine stores in the Puget Sound region and nearly 40,000 members. Over the past decade, PCC has contributed more than $500,000 to local community groups. In 2008, the cooperative had more than $133 million in sales.

Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)
www.rei.com
While headquartered across the Sound in Kent, REI began in Seattle in 1938 with 23 mountain climber members. With its flagship store located in the Cascade neighborhood, REI is the largest consumer cooperative in the United States, with more than 3.5 million members and 100 stores nationwide. Selling outdoor recreation gear and sporting goods, REI sales exceeded $1.43 billion in 2008. REI has been ranked every year in FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For," since the list's inception in 1998. In 2009, it ranked 12th.

Sunny Arms Artist Cooperative
www.sunnyarms.com/
Located in a renovated factory near the Georgetown neighborhood, the Sunny Arms Artist Cooperative was formed in 1989 with the acquisition of this 35,000-square-foot, 5-story former shoe factory. While the seller had to provide the financing because banks were skeptical of the non-traditional project, the coop would receive the Seattle Design Commission's "Housing Designs That Work" in 1991. It currently houses 18 studios, ranging in size from 1,400 to 3000 square feet (artist built) and 32 member artists.

The Wayfarer Cooperative
www.wayfarercoop.org
Located in the University District, two blocks from the University of Washington, the Wayfarer Cooperative was formed when a group of local residents decided to purchase the Wayfarer building in 1951. The housing cooperative consists of 28 units (studios and one-bedroom units) on four floors. The building has been designated a historical site by the city due to its period brick box style construction - one of only a few remaining examples in Seattle.

Employee Ownership

Lease Crutcher Lewis
www.lewisbuilds.com
After more than 120 years as a family-owned general contracting company, Lease Crutcher Lewis has begun the process of shifting towards a majority employee-owned firm. As the 15th largest private company in the state with gross revenue of $523 million in 2008, Lease Crutcher Lewis plans to reallocate 53 percent of the company as shares to its employees. It currently employs 550 workers.

Green Collar Jobs

Environmental Works
www.eworks.org/
Founded in 1970, Environmental Works is a non-profit community design center that provides sustainable architectural and planning services to low-income community groups throughout the Pacific Northwest. Environmental Works has designed more than 250 housing units, provided architectural services for more than thirty-six childcare centers and other facilities for children, and numerous other community facilities.

Institute for Washington's Future
www.forwashington.org
Striving to increase citizen participation in our democratic institutions, protect the environment, and create and preserve family-wage jobs for low-income people, the Institute for Washington's Future promotes rural enterprises, believing rural communities possess the opportunities for creating a more sustainable national economy. Recent projects have focused on biomass energy production, sustainable farming, and increasing opportunities for low-income people to earn a livelihood in agriculture.

Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development
www.nwseed.org
Northwest SEED works to establish a clean, diverse, and affordable Northwest energy system based on efficient use of renewable resources, with maximum local control and ownership of energy assets. The group provides technical assistance for projects that stimulate local economic development, create jobs, and enhance security, while creating widespread popular support for and investment in a sustainable energy system. Efforts to date have included a range of community-owned and tribal-owned wind, solar, and biomass projects.

Seattle Urban Farm Company
www.seattleurbanfarmco.com/
Founded in January 2007, the Seattle Urban Farm Company helps clients create and tend their own organic backyard gardens. Its services include everything from designing a custom garden to building and planting garden beds and maintaining the plants. They will even harvest and have recently added building chicken coops.

Municipal Enterprises

Pike's Place Market
www.pikeplacemarket.org
Run by the Pike Place Market Development Authority, a non-profit board established by the city in 1973— after a 1971 voter referendum that helped "save the market"— Pike's Place has since thrived and has proven to be a model for the redevelopment of public markets across the country. Today the Market boasts 200 shops, 190 craftspeople, 120 farmers, and 240 street performers and musicians and is estimated to attract 10 million visitors a year.

Port of Seattle
www.portseattle.org
The Port of Seattle operates a cruise port and container facilities, also operates Seattle-Tacoma (Sea-Tac) airport. In 2003, operating revenues were $321 million. It also leases commercial space, including business conference facilities.

Seattle Chinatown/International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDPDA)
www.scidpda.org
Founded in 1975 as a City-chartered community development agency, the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDPDA) works to preserve and develop the Seattle Chinatown International District community. In addition to numerous community programs, SCIDPDA owns and/or manages nine neighborhood properties - more than 400 affordable housing units - and over 200,000 square feet of commercial space in the Chinatown International District, providing affordable retail space to many of the community's non-profit organizations and small businesses.

Seattle: City Office of Housing
www.cityofseattle.net/housing/
Since 1981, as a result of voters passing ballot measures to create affordable housing, Seattle has now funded over 10,000 affordable apartments, provided down-payment loans to more than 600 first-time homebuyers and rental assistance to more than 4,000 households. Additionally, in early 2008, former Mayor Nickel launched the Foreclosure Prevention Program, which provides stabilization loans of up to $5,000, initially assisting at least 40 low-income homeowners with funds revolving over time to assist more homeowners at risk of foreclosure.

New State and Local Policies

Apollo Alliance
www.apolloalliance.org
Founded in 2004, this effort, which has brought together environmentalists, politicians, and labor activities across the country, is promoting a national effort on renewable energy commensurate with the single-minded pursuit of space travel under President Kennedy's Apollo Project. The Alliance's goal is to have renewable sources of energy providing 15 percent of the nation's energy by 2015 and 20 percent by 2020.

Reclaiming the Commons

WorldChanging.com
www.worldchanging.com
WorldChanging.com, begun in 2003, is a web-based discussion forum platform of social change activists. The site works from a simple premise: that the tools, models and ideas for building a better future lie all around us and plenty of people are working on tools for change, but the fields in which they work remain unconnected. The group pays special attention to tools, ideas and models that may have been overlooked in the mass media and aims to show ways in which seemingly unconnected resources link together to form a toolkit for changing the world.

Social Enterprise

FareStart
www.farestart.org
Since 1992, FareStart in Seattle has provided nutritious meals to those in need while helping the homeless and disadvantaged gain work skills running its social enterprise restaurant. Proceeds from the restaurant cover roughly 40 percent of the group's budget. FareStart produces over 2,500 meals daily and has helped transformed over 1,500 lives through its 16-week job training and placement program. Nearly half of the students involved in its training program are placed directly into jobs in the food-service industry.

Pioneer Human Services
www.pioneerhumanserv.com
Pioneer Human Services, founded in 1962, employs 700 people in its businesses, most of who come from its target population of ex-offenders and former drug abusers. Among its business is Pioneer Industries, a metal fabricator business that supplies Boeing. Its annual budget of $55 million is primarily funded through Pioneer's business income.

Social Enterprise Group
www.socialenterprisegroup.com
The Social Enterprise Group is a consulting firms that works with nonprofit, business, government and philanthropic in the Seattle metropolitan area on all aspects of social enterprise development, from initial readiness assessments to feasibility studies to business planning and concept development.

Transited Oriented Development

Thorton Place (Northgate TOD Project)
www.thornton-place.com
In 2003, construction began to develop Thorton Place, a transit-oriented, mixed-use project, which was then simply an 8-acre lot of empty asphalt and a Metro Park-N-Ride. Two years earlier former Mayor Nickels had made the revitalization of the Northgate neighborhood a top priority and this would be one its main achievements. Completed in 2009, Thorton Place consists of 109 LEED-certifiedcondos, 278 LEED-certifiedapartments (20 percent affordable), a 14-screen cinema, 50,000 square feet of retail, and 143 units of housing for senior citizens positioned at a bus transit hub and future light rail station area. The complex also includes 2.5 acres of green open space and helped partially restore Thorton Creek, which had been redirected underground for many years.

University Partnership

Carlson Center, University of Washington, Seattle
http://depts.washington.edu/leader/about/index.html
The Carlson Leadership & Public Service Center strives to develop service-learning, community-based participatory research by incorporating academic coursework with community-based learning and leadership. Founded in 1990 with a $100,000 gift from Seattle civic leader and former CEO of United Airlines and the Westin Hotels, the Carlson Center promotes volunteer and internship opportunities that address contemporary issues and problems, make contributions to the local community, and promote development of the skills of effective citizens and leaders.

Community Development and Entrepreneurial Clinic, Seattle University
www.seattleu.edu/albers/inner.aspx?id=23000
This joint effort between the Entrepreneurship Center and the Seattle University School of Law links current law students and clients of the Entrepreneurship Clinic. These students, themselves mentored by local entrepreneurs, attorneys, and business owners during the process, provide pro bono advisory services to prospective small business owners, selected from two community base micro-lending organizations: Community Capital Development and Washington CASH.