Equitable Development Initiative

Supporting projects that promote strong communities and places with equitable access. Photo by Sharon Chang.

EDI Fund Awards $9.8 Million to 21 community-based organizations throughout Seattle

On September 10, the Mayor announced the results of the 2021 EDI RFP round. Awards were made to organizations from Rainier Beach to West Seattle and up to Northgate representing work in a broad cross-section of communities and neighborhoods, as well as the types of projects identified.

The program received 78 applications, requesting over $51 million, making it be far the largest volume of requests received to-date. We thank all the organizations doing amazing work in community and the inspiring ideas and stories that were presented, as well as to the panel of community members who had the difficult task of reading the applications and reaching consensus on the final funding recommendation.

A list of the awarded projects can be found on our Daily Plan It blog.

We anticipate having more information on the 2022 funding round schedule in early 2022 once the City budget process is complete.

EDI Fund Request for Proposals (RFP)

The RFP was an opportunity for Community-based organizations working in Seattle on anti-displacement strategies, responding to creating new economic opportunities, improving educational outcomes, and other forms of community development including responding to the economic impacts of COVID-19. For the 2021 EDI funding round, approximately $6.8 million is available to organizations working on anti-displacement efforts in high displacement risk neighborhoods, with a continued emphasis on serving BIPOC communities that have been targeted by systemic and institutional racism. The funds will be used for organizational capacity building, property acquisition, and capital expenses.

Application documents:

RFP Informational Webinars

These webinars were for potential applicants to learn more about the application process and to ask questions of program staff. Links to the recorded webinars are below.

Our Projects

Chief Seattle Club (Pioneer Square)
A mixed-use project in Pioneer Square that will create more than 80 affordable apartment homes in addition to a health clinic, non-profit office space, and a cafe/gallery space. The project will focus on serving the homeless American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) population in Seattle. Chief Seattle Club on: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
African Women Business Alliance (Southeast Seattle)
This project would create a permanent home for the Alliance, which is currently relying on pop-up markets. The majority of women engaged by the Alliance are from households making less than $35,000 a year, and are motivated towards entrepreneurship as a means of breaking out of low-wage employment. Most cite access to seed capital as their primary barrier. African Women Business Alliance on: Facebook and Instagram.
Birth Center (Southeast Seattle, Rainier Valley)
SE Seattle Rainier Valley Midwives has been operating out of a temporary location in the Rainier Valley Community Clinic that is becoming untenable due to escalating rents. They are working to acquire and build a permanent Birth Center in the Rainier Valley for people of color. The Birth Center would provide wrap-around services before, during, and after the birth process. Birth Center on LinkedIn.
Black and Tan Hall (Hillman City)
Finish construction of physical location of Black and Tan Hall that includes a cooperatively-owned restaurant, performing arts venue, and community gathering space. Build internal capacity of organization by hiring management team to develop systems and programs to sustain community-oriented and cooperative business model. Black and Tan Hall on: Facebook and Instagram.
Byrd Barr Place (Central Area)
Byrd Barr Place will renovate the 100+ year old historic Firehouse with inclusive, accessible design to add 1000+ SF of community gathering space. The project will retain the building as a cultural asset for Seattle's Black community and expand its services, which include energy assistance and home heating, housing assistance and eviction prevention, and food bank and home delivery. Byrd Barr Place on: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Central Area Youth Association (CAYA) Community Center (Central Area)
The new mixed use community center will accommodate growing programming needs as well as affordable housing to mitigate displacement of our community.
Cham Refugees Community (Southeast Seattle)
Construction of an upgraded, 12,000 square foot community center at their existing location. Development will be sharia-compliant and expand programming for youth, the elderly, and disabled members of the community. Cham Refugees Community on Facebook and Youtube.
Daybreak Star Center (United Indians of All Tribes, Discovery Park)
The United Indians of All Tribes is embarking on a capital campaign to advance the rehabilitation of the Daybreak Star Center at Discovery Park. Daybreak Star Center on: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Duwamish Longhouse (Duwamish Valley Tribal Services, Duwamish Valley)
Purchase of property adjacent to the Longhouse to support the continued viability of the cultural space. The current location has significant safety issues that affect the visitors attempting to access the Longhouse. Duwamish Cultural Center on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Donate: https://www.givebigwa.org/Duwamish.
Duwamish Valley Affordable Housing Coalition (South Park)
Build the capacity of the Coalition and the South Park and Georgetown communities. The coalition has developed a 3-prong anti-displacement approach - preserving existing affordable housing; developing new affordable housing; and developing a multi-purpose building that provides community gathering space, childcare and affordable spaces for local non-profits. Duwamish Valley Affordable Housing Coalition on Facebook.
Ethiopian Village (Southeast Seattle)
Seattle Redevelopment of existing community center into a mixed-use project including 100 affordable senior homes, childcare, commercial space, and an expanded community center. Ethiopian Village will serve multiple generations of the Ethiopian community. Ethiopian Community in Seattle on: Facebook and Instagram.
Innovation Learning Center (Filipino Community of Seattle, SE Seattle)
Construction of the Filipino Community Village Innovation Learning Center and Community Gathering Space, which will house STEAM education for youth and young adults, health and wellness programs for seniors, cultural enrichment programs, and domestic and gender-based violence counseling. The project also includes 95 affordable senior apartment homes. Filipino Community of Seattle on Facebook.
Homestead Home (Wing Luke Museum, Chinatown-International District)
The Wing will preserve the Homestead Home one block south of the Museum and to develop the adjacent parking lot. This home is the most intact remaining single-family home in the Chinatown-International District, constructed in 1937. On the lot, The Wing intends to build 60 affordable apartments above a street-level community gathering space. Wing Luke Museum on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.
Hope Academy (South Delridge)
Established in 2002, Hope Academy is the only East African community-based K-8 school accredited by the WA State Board of Education. HAS serves 120 students and more than 400 East African refugee and immigrant families through their programs. EDI funds will help secure ownership of the property.
Lake City Collective (Lake City)
Lake City Collective uses a community ambassador model to increase the ability for local communities to become self-determining. LCC seeks to establish a location in Seattle's Little Brook neighborhood that would allow them to expand services and establish partnerships that would preserve existing affordable housing sites in the neighborhood and improve living conditions. Lake City Collective on Facebook.
Little Saigon Landmark Project (Friends of Little Saigon, Chinatown-International District)
A gathering place for the regional Vietnamese community in the Little Saigon business district. It will bring together the district's cultural, shopping, and culinary aspects in a distinctive physical anchor. The mixed-use Landmark Project will include a cultural center, Southeast Asian grocery, Emerald Night Market, and restaurant. Each component of the development will reflect Vietnamese Americans' rich culture, history, and future. The project is currently in feasibility and predevelopment. Friends of Little Saigon on Facebook and Instagram.
Midtown Center Africatown (Central Area)
Africatown Community Land Trust has partnered with Capitol Hill Housing and the Capitol Hill Housing Foundation to develop Africatown Plaza at Midtown - a seven-story, mixed use building with 5,000-8,000 SF of commercial space and approximately 130 apartments affordable to households earning up to 60% AMI. Africatown Seattle on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.
Multicultural Community Coalition (SE Seattle)
The Multicultural Community Coalition (MCC) will anchor several community organizations serving Seattle's growing immigrant, refugee and people of color communities by creating a community-owned and operated co-working space and an essential Cultural Innovation Center (CIC). The CIC is envisioned as a vital heritage and cultural arts venue which will house year-round, cultural events and activities as well as serving as a Creative Economy space in which artists, cultural nonprofits, and creative small businesses will produce and distribute cultural goods and services that generate jobs, revenue, and quality of life.
Opportunity Center @ Othello Square (Othello)
Othello Square brings together multiple non-profit partners to pool their strengths in a community-focused campus. The Opportunity Center @ Othello Square includes non-profit offices, classrooms, cultural center, and maker space; 200 affordable and workforce apartments; and a mid-block public plaza for community use.
Queer the Land  (Beacon Hill)
QTL seeks to fund the capacity building resources that they need to create a QT2BIPOC-owned and operated cooperative in one of Seattle's historical communities of color to include affordable transitional and semi-permanent housing, co-working space, communal space, and a community garden. Queer the Land on Facebook.
Rainier Beach Food Innovation District (Rainier Beach)
An employment, education and entrepreneurship project prioritized and driven by the community with a new model of transit oriented development (TOD) that is based on production and decent quality jobs rather than consumption and low-wage jobs. This new model is in contrast to the more common model of "high cost housing over low-wage jobs." Rainier Beach Action Coalition on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Flickr.
Refugee and Immigrant Family Center (Delridge)
The Refugee and Immigrant Family Center is a bi-lingual childcare provider that has been central to the Delridge community for many years. The EDI program was able to help them purchase their building when the owner put the property on the market, preventing their imminent displacement.
West African Community Center (West African Community Council, Southeast Seattle)
Renovation and expansion of community facility with services and programs including housing advocacy, financial assistance and education, family counseling, tutoring, bilingual preschool. WACC serves the Alian, Guinean, Senegalese, Ivorian, Nigerian, Gambian, Liberian, Burkina Faso, Mauritanian, Guinea-Bissau, Benin, Cape Verde, Ghanaian, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Niger communities in Seattle.
William Grose Center for Cultural Innovation Africatown (Central Area)
Create a space that supports small businesses, creative entrepreneurs and creating pathways to the knowledge-based economy. WGCCI will address community priorities and create career pathways that support entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic development located in the Central Area, which will serve Seattle's historically Black community that has been and continues to face high risk of displacement. The WGCCI will create dedicated spaces for innovation and civic tech events that can draw people in from the street and serve as a tech epicenter near existing cultural and community assets. Africatown Seattle on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.

About the Advisory Board

Our Advisory Board provides guidance to the City on the implementation of the EDI to ensure that the program furthers the City's Race and Social Justice Initiative goals. The board implements the accountability goals of the Equitable Development Implementation Plan, develops funding criteria, and creates recommendations for the allocation of the EDI fund.

Meeting Agendas

May 20, 2021 meeting agenda

Advisory Board Members

We will update this section with more information about each Board Member soon.

Willard Brown
Cassie Chinn
Gregory Davis
Regina Dove
Cesar Garcia
Lindsay Goes Behind
Quynh Pham
Maria-Jose (Coté) Soerens
Yordanos Teferi
Evelyn Thomas Allen
Abdirahman Yusuf

EDI Request for Proposals

Community-based organizations working in Seattle on anti-displacement strategies and responding to the economic impacts of COVID-19 were encouraged to apply to the City of Seattle's Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) fund. For the 2020 EDI funding round, a total of $5.8 million was available to organizations led by and serving people of color in high displacement risk neighborhoods. The funds will be used for organizational capacity building, property acquisition, and capital expenses. Final contracts with successful applicants are expected to be completed by December 2021.

The following webinars were held in 2020 for potential applicants:

Equitable Development Monitoring Program

Equitable Development Monitoring Program (EDMP)
As outlined in the Equitable Development Implementation Plan, the EDMP is an ongoing source of data and analysis to inform City policies, programs, and investments - and to aid work within communities - to reduce race-based disparities, advance equity, and combat displacement. The program includes:

Community Indicators Report: Based on concerns and priorities expressed by community members. Topics include housing affordability, neighborhood livability, transportation, and education and economic opportunity.

Heightened Displacement Risk Indicators to increase our understanding of displacement and detect heightened displacement risks.

The EDMP also includes information on Neighborhood Change so that the indicators can be viewed alongside historical context and recent shifts in racial and ethnic demographics.

EDI Implementation Materials

The Equitable Development Initiative builds on the Equitable Development Implementation Plan and Financial Investment Strategy that were adopted by City Council in 2016 as part of our Comprehensive Plan – Seattle 2035. An interim advisory board helps determine criteria and priorities for Equitable Development funding.

The Equitable Development Implementation Plan guides how the city prioritizes its work; shapes its budgets, policies, programs, and investments; and structures the implementation of targeted strategies and equitable development projects by using clear objectives for reducing disparities and achieving equitable outcomes for marginalized populations.
- Appendix A: Resolution 31577 – confirming that the City of Seattle’s core value of race and social equity is one of the foundations on which the Comprehensive Plan is built.
- Appendix B: Mayor’s Recommended Plan
- Appendix C: PolicyLink Fall 2015 Memo
- Appendix D: Final Growth and Equity Analysis
- Appendix E: DPD/OCR letter to PLUS
- Appendix F: Growth Strategy Map
- Appendix G: PolicyLink January 2016 Memo
- Appendix H: Equity Indicators
- Appendix !: Maps of Individual Equity Analysis Indicators
Equitable Development Financial Investment Strategy

Other documents related to Equitable Development and Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative, which is the City’s commitment to eliminate racial disparities and achieve racial equity in Seattle.

Executive Order 2015-04: Directing the creation of a new executive office to coordinate planning and implementation to build thriving and equitable communities
Executive Order 2014-02: Affirms the City of Seattle’s commitment to the Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), and expands RSJI’s work to include measurable outcomes, greater accountability, and community-wide efforts to achieve racial equity in our community.
Race and Social Justice in the 2017 Budget Provides an overview of the major citywide initiatives underway and specific projects and programs that will help create a more equitable city.

What is Equitable Development?

Equitable development means public and private investments, programs, and policies in neighborhoods that take into account past history and current conditions to meet the needs of marginalized populations and to reduce disparities so that quality of life outcomes such as access to quality education, living wage employment, healthy environment, affordable housing and transportation, are equitably distributed for the people currently living and working here, as well as for new people moving in.

The City's Equitable Development Framework involves integrating people and place to create strong communities and people as well as great places with equitable access. It also involves the following six equity drivers:

Advance economic mobility and opportunity
Prevent residential, commercial, and cultural displacement
Build on local cultural assets
Promote transportation mobility and connectivity
Develop healthy and safe neighborhoods
Enable equitable access to all neighborhoods

Additional Background

Seattle has grown rapidly in recent years, but the benefits and burdens of growth have not been shared among our communities. Disparities persist in income, unemployment rates, homeownership and even life expectancy. Our plan for growth moving forward, Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan, envisions Seattle as a diverse city where all people can achieve their full potential regardless of race or means.

The EDI addresses displacement and the unequal distribution of opportunities to sustain a diverse Seattle. The EDI fosters community leadership and supports organizations to promote equitable access to housing, jobs, education, parks, cultural expression, healthy food and other community needs and amenities.
Council approved an interfund transfer loan of $16 million to be used on EDI projects in advance of the completion of the Civic Square transaction.
In late 2016, directors and staff from multiple departments began working together to create the EDI program, including the EDI fund, and coordinate interdepartmental efforts to prevent displacement and advance mobility.
EDI Subcabinet Directors recommended the City invest $6.5 million in the four neighborhoods where the proposed place-based projects are located (Chinatown-International District, the Central District, Othello and Rainier Beach) for capacity building, pre-development, and capital investments. The initial investment would be based on project funding criteria that are being developed.
EDI Subcabinet Directors approved the release of an additional $5.5 million for up to seven additional projects through an open application process starting at the end of 2017.