Community Development
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Sustainable Seattle has a long history of community development through participatory action research and grassroots activism. Deeply seeded in our program is the belief that people inherently know what changes need to be made and how to bring about those changes for a sustainable community. Sustainable Seattle provides facilitation, resources and education so that people can come together, join forces and make informed decisions that have a lasting and far reaching impact for the good of all.
Sustainable Seattle's Seven Es of community development are:
- Ensure diverse interests and cultures are included.
- Engage community members in active participation.
- Enhance leadership capacity in the community.
- Expand action and strategies by and for the community.
- Educate in sustainability issues and indicators.
- Enact a process so decision makers are informed today and in the future.
- Empower actions through asset & resource identification and implementation steps so the community can take ownership for goals, actions and indicators for sustainability.
Our work in community development include our first three sets of Sustainability Indicators for our region and our forth iteration of indicators that includes goals, data, actions and linkages between all on a web-based format, B-Sustainable.org. These indicators were created to measure progress, to inform policy makers, and to spur lasting action by community members. In the Central Puget Sound, those involved in the indicators projects have had lasting impact and include policy makers, business executives, international consultants, and leaders in the not-for profit world.
Past Projects
Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods Initiative.
The
Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods Initiative (SUNI) worked with local
communities and city government from 2004 to 2006 to build
understanding about neighborhood concerns and strengths, collect data
on neighborhood health (both assets and deficits) and promote actions
to improve Seattle neighborhoods. You can learn more about the SUNI
project here.
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NABRS - Neighbors Acting to Build Resiliency and Sustainability
Sustainable Seattle has been a leader in the creation, use, and application of neighborhood-level sustainability indicators. Building from our past experience on the Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods Initiative (SUNI), we launched the NABRS (Neighbors Acting to Build Resiliency and Sustainability) program in 2009. In the Spring of 2009, we began the pilot round of NABRS, supported by a small grant from the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. The two neighborhoods selected for this pilot project are Rainier Beach and North Greenlake/Greenwood.
There are two parts to the project: the creation of a neighborhood
sustainability scorecard and the facilitation of a neighborhood action
project. Click here to learn more.