♪♪
-Thank you all for coming out this morning.
My name is Rico Quirindongo. I am the director
of the Office of Planning and Community Development.
We are all here this morning to talk about
the 2025 Equitable Development Initiative,
or EDI Funding Awards.
In response to the Comprehensive Plan
major update in 2016,
The EDI program was created in response to community
to address displacement
and provide BIPOC organizations a path for generational wealth.
EDI now represents an important component
of our city's approach to equitable development
and the alignment of EDI funding with broader
urban planning and community goals.
Our program is one of the most effective programs
to fight displacement.
EDI fosters community leadership,
cultural placemaking,
and our shared vision for a more inclusive city.
It ensures that community organizations most at risk
of displacement have a permanent home here in Seattle.
OPCD staff build deep partnerships
with our EDI grantee organizations
to see their projects, from site acquisition to development,
to opening their doors,
and then continuing to provide the social services
for the community that are most needed.
Today we have 75 projects that are in process.
We have nine projects like ARTE NOIR,
where we are today,
that are in permanent operations.
The city extends our thanks to Vivian Phillips,
who we will be hearing from in a bit here,
the force behind ARTE NOIR,
for welcoming us into her space.
You will have the opportunity to hear from Vivian this morning,
as well as César García,
co-founder of Lake City Collective,
and Wyking Garrett of Africatown.
I want to acknowledge and thank
all the members of the EDI grantee community
and the EDI Community Advisory Board
for the incredible work they lead in community
and all that they do to guide our program
and the success that we are able to see.
With that, I am pleased to welcome Mayor Bruce Harrell,
a steadfast champion of EDI,
leading efforts to promote inclusive growth
and advance anti-displacement strategies
that empower marginalized communities
and co-create a Seattle
where everyone can access opportunities needed to thrive.
-Thank you very much, Mayor. -Thank you, Rico.
Thank you.
Hold your applause, please. Please.
[ Laughter ]
So, I'm very honored to share a podium with --
I'm going to go on a first name basis here --
Vivian, Wyking, and César.
This work that we try to do as an administration,
we don't really --
we really shouldn't take too much credit for it --
in this sense.
That people like Vivian
have worked decades and decades,
and Wyking and his family have worked decades and decades
of advocacy, strong, effective advocacy
to make sure that Seattle remembers its past
and the rich history of its past,
and the diversity and the Black community and other communities
that were here that helped establish what we see today.
So as we fight displacement, we don't do it alone.
We do it with it with community partners.
And this is not a victory lap. We have to make that very clear.
You have to celebrate milestones,
and you have to pat each other on the back once in a while,
but only with the intent
of saying that the fight continues.
And so that is why I'm very proud to stand
with the three of you.
I want to ground us in a quote, and Vivian, again,
thank you for hosting us at ARTE NOIR,
such a magnificent facility.
I did say it right.
I practiced it five times before I came up here.
A magnificent facility.
And I know Rico, in his humility,
didn't mention the fact that I believe in another life,
you played a role in the
architectural thinking behind this.
And so, you're obviously not a politician
because you find a way to sneak that in there
when you have the microphone, Rico.
Which demonstrates your continued humility
and commitment to this community.
I want to ground us in a quote.
"Our goal is to create a beloved community,
and this will require a qualitative change in our souls
as well as a quantitative change in our lives."
And that was from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
So I'm very pleased to announce the awards going to 42 projects
through the EDI, the Equitable Development Initiative.
I want to congratulate the awardees who are --
these are smart investments.
They are worthy of the investments,
and they will prove to the city
in a very tough budget challenge
that we have here in recent years.
You've heard about it,
and this is where you try to do the best you can
for that which matters most.
And this kind of work matters, is extremely high
in our priorities.
EDI is a centerpiece of our strategy,
as Rico talked about,
to fight displacement for BIPOC communities
and promote equitable access to housing, jobs,
education, childcare, and other opportunities.
It is especially timely
that we're announcing these awards before MLK Day next week,
as these investments speak to the idea
of building a beloved community.
These three fine individuals love this community.
That's what drives them to do the work that they do.
Now...
one thing that I am particularly proud of is we've --
when I was elected president of the council in 2016,
we began this work.
And from that time on to this day today,
we've invested over $116 million in this strategy.
This is a continuum of the work
that we have to do with our community partners.
Is it enough? It's never enough.
We're dealing with hundreds and hundreds
of years of displacement strategies,
gentrification, and other institutional challenges
that we're facing.
But we're doing the best we could.
And every single day when I meet with my administration,
that's the effort behind what we do.
In our 2025, 2026 --
we expanded funding for EDI to $28 million in 2025
and $29.2 million in 2026.
And again, this is in the face of some
of the biggest challenges,
biggest financial challenges this city has ever faced.
But these kinds of projects --
and that is why, again, we're thankful
to be hosted by you, Vivian -- these types of projects,
you could see what we're doing here.
Community leaders.
Honoring our past such that we could build upon our future.
So with that,
I will introduce our next speaker, Vivian Phillips,
someone that...
Wait a minute. Don't start walking.
I've got an introduction for you here.
Okay.
Someone that I've known --
I was going to say she's been doing this community building
for decades and decades,
but if I'd have said decades and decades and decades and decades,
I would have aged her,
and we're right around the same vintage,
so I just said decades and decades.
And she is my my favorite Garfield Bulldog as well,
Vivian Phillips, the founder of this great establishment.
Vivian. -Thank you.
Thank you so much.
It's going to be hard for me to call him Mayor
because, you know, we're on a first-name basis.
And welcome to the hood.
Um, I think we grew up together here in this community,
so you're obviously no stranger.
I'm so grateful to be able to
welcome all of you into ARTE NOIR
and to thank Rico, particularly, for getting me involved
in this project to begin with.
And hopefully we have made you proud.
Hopefully, we've made the city proud
because our intention is to be here forever
and to maintain the legacy of Seattle's Black community
through arts and culture for as long as long as we possibly can.
I do need to start this morning by saying
that our hearts are with the entire community of Altadena.
It was California's first Black middle-class community.
And the cultural community,
the arts community in Altadena is suffering,
and we want to try to do what we can to support them.
But I just ask that you all keep them lifted in your prayers.
You may not hear a lot about them
because Palisades is going to take all of the front credit,
or I should say focus, but we do want to acknowledge them.
Um, as Bruce knows, I have always believed
that Seattle wants to be a better place.
It is constantly trying to find itself and find ways
to be a better city, and we believe
that the Equitable Development Initiative is evidence
of the fact that the city wants to be a better place,
and we're really proud to be a part of it.
Our first EDI grant allowed us to do the dreaming
that resulted in what you're standing in today.
So we're incredibly grateful to continue
to be a partner with the city of Seattle.
Rebuilding of communities
is not normally anchored in arts and culture,
but arts and culture is always called upon
to help us understand what's going on
in our communities, what's going on in our lives,
and to help us better understand our relationship to one another.
In this instance,
we took the opportunity to anchor here at the corner
of 23rd and Union, arts and culture,
that stimulates more business here
and that also recognizes, as the mayor did,
that we are trying to maintain a presence.
We are glad that we are partners and collaborators
with others who have already been doing this work.
We're happy to be joining Wa Na Wari.
We're happy to be joining Communion.
And we thank Africatown Land Trust for the work
that they've done to make it possible for Black ownership.
And that is the key to what we are doing here.
We own this space,
so we are here in perpetuity.
I'll wait for you to clap.
[ Applause ]
That really is the big news for us.
And we're, again, grateful to have been chosen
to have this announcement for all of these organizations
and all of these projects that are going to make our city
and our community better.
So thank you, Mayor Harrell,
thank you, Rico, and thank all of you.
[ Applause ]
-Do you want me to introduce you?
-No. -Okay.
-Right, good morning, good morning.
K. Wyking Garrett,
third-generation community builder from right here
in this neighborhood, lived right across the street.
Currently have the privilege of serving as president and CEO
of Africatown Community Land Trust.
And, you know,
just excited to see what has materialized from the work that,
you know, the Race and Social Equity Task force,
you know, started back in 2013 and 2014
to create the EDI program and to see
that that work is producing all of these opportunities
and really a nation-leading program
in terms of dealing with anti-displacement.
For us, you know, we just a couple months ago
cut the ribbon on Africatown Plaza,
which really kind of solidified our work at this corner, right.
And to be able to see Liberty Bank and Midtown Square
and Africatown Plaza provide, really,
proof of possibility, right,
that something else is possible if community comes together
and imagines a future and then sets the intention
and keeps your attention on it,
you know, and puts the effort and energy.
And so I want to say thank you not only
to the city Office of Planning and Community Development,
the mayor,
but to all of the community members
whose names are not as well known
who came to community meetings,
who came to planning meetings to advocate for a different future,
not only for this corner, but for the city.
You know, our premise is that Seattle is a world-class city.
It should have a world-class Black community.
And we see the Equitable Development Initiative program
as a critical tool in charting that future
and helping us co-design and co-create
and build a future that includes us
when we know the trends have been
towards excluding so many of us.
And so at a time when so much change is happening
and Seattle was really, you know,
in a place of losing much of its soul,
particularly when you talk about the Central District
and the rich cultural legacies here,
that now we have a resource to show what is possible
and what can happen when we make investments.
We know that it's been many, many years
of policies and practices
that have created these conditions.
And to chart a different future,
we have to have bold investments and interventions.
And I think this corner and the EDI program
are examples of the direction that the city of Seattle
should be going and taking and embracing the opportunity
to lead this nation
in how development can happen without displacement.
So again we say thank you.
We also, at the close of this particular program,
I just want to remind you that you are welcome
to come over to Africatown Plaza
and see the commercial space
that the Equitable Development Initiative funding
that we are receiving
will be helping to build in terms of the future offices
of Africatown Community Land Trust
as well as community cultural space.
And so we are building this corridor, you know,
our vision of our Black Wall Street.
And it's just beautiful to see things thriving
where things were previously dying.
So let's keep up the good work.
Everyone lean in, keep advocating,
keep pushing things in the right direction,
and we can bring something that our children can be proud of
and benefit from
because generational wealth is not just money,
it's also culture,
it's also connection, and it's also community.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
-[ Clears throat ] Excuse me.
Good morning.
My name is César García,
and I am co-founder of Lake City Collective,
along with my life partner, Peggy Hernández,
who is here and who started advocating
for pedestrian and safety issues long before me.
She's not only the rock of our family,
she's also the rock of our community organization.
Before I start, I would like to thank Mayor Harrell,
the entire Office of Planning and Community Development,
Director Rico here, and everybody that is behind
all the work that is behind the EDI program.
As well as this beautiful space.
When we came, I hadn't been here in this space.
It's such a beautiful space
that every community in every part of the city
you know, should have.
So we look up to the organizations
that have been doing the work here.
Well, let me tell you
that LCC would not exist without Peggy.
Most anyone can do my role,
but no one could fill her role as a community organizer.
And that goes for all the women in our lives.
And I would like to shout out to our project manager, Katie,
who is also here.
I always say that we owe everything to the city.
What LCC is today and what we have accomplished so far,
we owe that to OPCD 99% of the times.
After years...
In 2019,
we applied for EDI capacity funds
after years of doing community building in different spaces --
the library, the community center, a local park --
but our community needed a space to call their own, to call home.
Thanks to our first EDI capacity building grant
that we were awarded,
we were able to afford rent in a small space in Little Brook,
north of Lake City,
and that changed everything for us and for our community,
as now we had a base to build capacity for our community
that had been neglected for so long.
We rented the space in January 2020.
Three months after that, COVID came,
and since then our center has been a resilience hub
even before that term became a thing.
In 2020, we applied to the Strategic Investment Fund,
two years after hard work with our doors open
even when government doors were not.
It paid off.
We were selected to secure a site just half a block
from our center,
a place our community can call their own,
a place that we can continue to grow our roots.
Fast-forward to this day,
the Lake City Collective continues building community,
but most importantly
is doing community development.
Through our advocacy, in one or two months
parks will break ground to renovate our beloved
Little Brook Park,
which provided the space for us in the beginning.
With SDOT we have transformed an unsafe neighborhood
for kids and seniors into a pedestrian-friendly community,
along with a beautiful Native American mural,
and we have a plaza in the works.
We advocated for a GIS project with Seattle Public Utilities
that will be built in our block.
The funds that are awarded to us in this cycle,
it will make a difference again.
Thanks to the EDI and our partnership with
the Office of Sustainability and Environment,
we will get the help that we need
to continue our capital campaign.
Peggy and I are standing here
proud of what we have accomplished.
With your support,
we are confident that we will welcome you
to the Lake City Collective Multicultural Resilience Center
when it's built,
a space where our community will be prepared
for whatever challenge lies ahead.
A place where they will thrive and a place
where they will celebrate their culture.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
-My notes said you were supposed to come up here
for Q&A, but I guess that would be my role.
-[ Laughs ] I'm happy to answer questions.
-So, again, in closing,
and I'll entertain a few questions if there are some,
I want to thank again, Miss Phillips, Vivian,
for hosting us, and Wyking Garrett
for your steadfast advocacy.
The whole city is proud of your efforts and what you are doing.
And César out in the Lake City Collective,
thank you for your leadership.
It was mentioned in the remarks,
I did grow up just four blocks from here.
I had conversations with your father as a young man here,
walking these streets at 12 and 13
when I thought I knew everything
and realized I knew very little, actually.
So these projects are very near and dear to me as your mayor.
And again, the advocacy and the the determination of communities
that have a voice, thank you for your voice
and we'll continue to do this work together.
And having said that,
I'd like to actually browse around a little bit,
but if you have some questions, I'd entertain a few,
and I'll wait and make sure --
and these are questions from the press,
because I know many of the community
will have many questions for me, as you always do.
Any questions? I'll count you down.
Three...two...
one Seattle, together.
Thank you very much.
All right.
All right. Thank you.