by Lauryn Bray
Homestead Community Land Trust (HCLT) just received a $10 million grant from novelist and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. The donation was made without restrictions, meaning the organization can use the money for whatever it wants.
Continue reading Homestead Community Land Trust Celebrates $10M Donation From MacKenzie Scottby Lauryn Bray
At the end of April, the Washington State Senate Committee released the amended 2023–2025 Biennial and 2023 Supplemental Capital Budgets, which included $6 million in funding for an affordable housing and early learning center project in Skyway. Originally, the proposed budgets allocated only $3 million for the affordable housing part of the project; however, after residents, activists, and legislators continued to advocate for the needs of the Skyway community, an additional $3 million was carved out in the amended budget for an early learning center.
Continue reading Skyway Community Receives Funding for Affordable Housing and Early Learning Centerby Alexa Strabuk 譚文曠
(This article was originally published on the International Examiner and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID) has been named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2023 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, a coalition of organizations and community stakeholders announced May 9 during a press conference at Hing Hay Park. It is the first time a Washington State site has made the list since it was started in 1988.
Continue reading CID Announced as One of 11 Endangered National Historic Placesby Amanda Ong
On April 8, the Wing Luke Museum debuted two new exhibits, “Nobody Lives Here,” with art and text by artist Tessa Hulls, and “Resistance at Home,” an exhibit by the museum’s cohort of YouthCAN students. The exhibits are distinct but contain interconnected themes. “Nobody Lives Here” looks at the 1960s and the construction of I-5 through the Chinatown-International District, as well as its resounding effects, and connects it to national projects of urban renewal that have come at the detriment of low-income neighborhoods of color. Meanwhile, “Resistance at Home” features artwork from members of the museum’s youth program, who were asked to reflect on the history of resistance in the CID and what “resistance” and “home” mean to them personally.
Continue reading Wing Luke’s ‘Nobody Lives Here’ and ‘Resistance at Home’ Take a Look at Sound Transit and the Future of the CIDby Ari Robin McKenna
While working to rebuild Rainier Beach High School throughout the cold, dark rainy winter, Israel Presley carries up to 60 lbs in his belt and pack. His pack often includes three drills (each with different bits), a double-jack sledgehammer, “cowbells,” “come-alongs,” and a “yo-yo” — a retractable lifeline that allows him to move about the jobsite, but would catch him should he fall.
Continue reading The Hopes and Fears of a Former Student Working to Rebuild Rainier Beach High Schoolby Glen Stellmacher
On Feb. 28, 2001, I was in middle school, in the computer lab. I remember it vividly. Partway through class, our room started violently shaking. It felt like our school had been placed on top of a slab of cafeteria Jell-O, and someone was shaking the tray as hard as they could.
Continue reading OPINION | The Next ‘Big One’ Could Mean Big Displacement for Seattle’s Black Populationby Ronnie Estoque
On Saturday, Feb. 11, the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) will be partnering with the Black Heritage Society of Washington State (BHS) to host a community event titled Building with Purpose: Black Architects and Community Agency from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m at the MOHAI Microsoft Lakefront Pavilion. The event will feature On the Boards curatorial fellow Berette Macaulay, Revere XR founder Yolanda Barton, Vanishing Seattle founder Cynthia Brothers, architect Laurie Allison Wilson, and museum consultant Jackie Peterson. Rachel Spence is a programs manager at MOHAI and helped organize the event alongside BHS President Stephanie Johnson-Toliver.
“We’re grateful to be in partnership with BHS and feel honored to help facilitate conversations around equitable development and the role of Black architects in creating a livable city,” Spence said. “We hope our audience goes away feeling connected to their built environments, and that they feel inspired to fight for community-driven development.”
Continue reading Black Heritage Society Partners With MOHAI to Host Black Architects and Community Eventby Ronnie Estoque
I grew up in a yellow house on Willow Street just a block away from Brighton Elementary (now known as Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary), where I attended school. Many of my childhood memories consist of me riding bikes with my friends around our hilly neighborhood. We would race each other and order ice cream from the local driver on summer days that seemed to breeze by way too fast.
Continue reading OPINION | Willow Street Reflectionsby Ruba Ayub
Every day, I take the A Line to the Tukwila light rail station from my home, then I walk from the station to work at an elementary school. On my walk, I pass new buildings — the type that you see in Seattle’s bougie areas — overpriced apartments, justice centers, and other expensive urban infrastructures typically protected by over-policing and built-over, bulldozed Black, Brown, and immigrant-owned shops and community spaces.
Continue reading OPINION | My Tukwila Is Not the Sameby Sarah Goh, photos by Jaidev Vella
In South Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood, Polar Cleaners has made its home at the southwest corner of Rainier Square Plaza for almost 50 years. As the only safe laundromat in the area, Polar Cleaners has become a community lifeline and place for neighbors to gather.
Owner Bonniejean Crone worked at the laundromat for over 30 years and took over the business in April of last year. Today, she is fighting to keep her neighborhood business after Kimco Realty, a real estate corporation headquartered in New York that recently bought the property, abruptly terminated her lease and threatened to move in new tenants. News of this sudden termination spread throughout the community, with many neighbors sending flowers, writing letters, and protesting the removal of their beloved laundromat.
Continue reading Columbia City’s Polar Cleaners Laundromat Faces Closure
