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The City of Seattle has announced $1.77 million in additional grants from its Equitable Development Initiative Fund for “community organizations for projects and programs that respond to displacement pressures.” The new awards are earmarked for “groups that are supporting communities of color and small businesses responding to the devastating economic dislocation caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic,” the city says.
The money will be spread across 36 different organizations. The full list is below.
The fund began its awards in 2018. The COVID-19 funding joins what the city says is about $6 million in boosts that will put three Central District-area properties into community ownership awarded as part of the EDIF’s annual process.
Earlier this year, Mayor Jenny Durkan frustrated many Black Lives Matter advocates with the formation of a Equitable Communities Initiative Task Force to shepherd what she said would be around $100 million in funding for BIPOC community and social services. The city council is set to carve that number lower in the 2021 budget, leaving the task force with closer to $30 million to work with.
The full roster of EDIF grantees is below:
| ORGANIZATIONS FUNDED | SERVICES PROVIDED |
| ACED | Artist Income Supports |
| AlefBa Group | Community Center Feasibility |
| Backpack Academy | Youth STEM Education |
| Beacon Hill Council | Site Feasibility |
| Black Star Farmers | Environmental Justice |
| Central Area Collaborative | Job Training/Apprenticeship |
| Chinese Information Service Center | Anti-Hate Crime Support |
| Cultivate South Park | Community Organizing |
| Denkyem Coop | Financing for Entrepreneurs |
| Dominican Association of WA | Small Business Supports |
| Equity Alliance of Washington | Affordable Commercial Space |
| Eritrean Association of Greater Seattle | Youth Leadership Development |
| Freedom Project | Re-Entry Covid-19 Support |
| Garfield Superblock | Site Feasibility |
| Gathering Roots | Health and Wellness Programs |
| Horn of Africa | Childcare Infrastructure |
| I Do This For You | Senior Meals |
| Khmer Community of Seattle/King County | Community Center Feasibility |
| KVRU | Civic Infrastructure |
| Kwanzaa Preparatory Academy | Digital Literacy |
| Langston Center | Artist Income Supports |
| Muslim Housing Services | Housing Supports |
| Nehemiah Initiative | Site Feasibility |
| Nurturing Roots | Environmental Justice and Site Feasibility |
| Paradise Avenue Souf | Youth Leadership and Artist Support |
| Rainier Avenue Radio | Civic Infrastructure and Site Feasibility |
| Rainier Valley Food Bank | Food Access |
| Real Time Human Services | Varied Social Services |
| Rooted ReEntry Collective | Re-Entry Covid-19 Support |
| S2 | Networked Support System |
| Somali Health Board | Site Feasibility |
| Tenant’s Union | Eviction Response and Tenant Organizing |
| Tiny Art House Community | Artist Supports |
| Union Cultural Center | Health and Wellness |
| Urban Impact | Financing for Business |
| Wa Na Wari | Site Feasibility and Artists Support |
