Motion 2019-07 – Duwamish Valley Community Equity Program Page 1 of 3
MOTION 2019-07:
A MOTION OF THE PORT OF SEATTLE COMMISSION
formalizing the Duwamish Valley Community Equity
Program and its collaboration with Duwamish Valley
communities to strengthen community-port capacity
building, improve environmental health and livability, and
increase access to workforce and economic development
opportunities.
ADOPTED
MAY 28, 2019
TEXT OF THE MOTION
To advance the goals of the Duwamish Valley Community Equity Program (DVCE) the Port of
Seattle Commission directs the Executive Director to form a Port-wide DVCE Interdepartmental
Team (IDT) representing all applicable Port divisions including, but not limited to, External
Relations, Environment and Sustainability, Equity, Maritime, Economic Development, Human
Resources that dedicates staff time, funding, and resources to accomplish the following:
1. Recommend a DVCE program budget, for Commission approval, that will designate staff
time and resources for annual programming to accomplish program goals.
2. Collaborate with the Port Community Action Team (PCAT) in program decisions and
implementation. With support from the PCAT, develop a Community Benefits
Commitment for Commission consideration by Q4 2019. The Commitment will provide
guiding principles, a list of immediate and future actionable items, a strategy and
timeline to accomplish goals, a charter for the PCAT, and auditable reporting standards.
3. Leverage Port resources in coordination with other public agencies and external
partners to ensure that DVCE objectives align with other local equity initiatives.
4. Identify funding opportunities that continue ongoing actions and launch new, multi-year
special projects that address community priorities including, but not limited to, capacity
building, environmental benefits such as, air quality and shoreline improvements, and
economic and workforce development in the Duwamish Valley.
5. Collaborate with the PCAT to develop an annual reporting and evaluation framework to
provide recommendations to Port leadership. The framework will used to analyze
program effectiveness and guide actions.
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STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE MOTION
In 2013, the Cumulative Health Impacts Analysis (CHIA) was co-authored by Just Health Action
and the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition/Technical Advisory Group. The CHIA found that a
range of health exposures and impacts disproportionately affect people in the Duwamish
Valley, an area with the greatest number of contaminated waste sites, poor built environment
characteristics, and severe air pollution compared to the rest of Seattle. Life expectancy in the
neighborhoods of Georgetown and South Park is up to 13 years shorter than wealthier parts of
Seattle. With the support of this data, the Duwamish Valley is characterized as an area with
disproportionate health impacts and environmental injustices where more effective actions and
investments are needed to address health and economic inequities.
The 2011 Century Agenda commits the Port of Seattle to create opportunity for all, steward our
environment responsibly, partner with surrounding communities, promote social responsibility,
conduct ourselves transparently and hold ourselves accountable. Recognizing that some near-
Port communities, such as South Park and Georgetown, experience a higher proportion of
environmental impacts and lack equitable access to the Port’s benefits to the region, the Port of
Seattle launched a pilot project to address community equity issues. Originally as part of a U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Stakeholder Engagement and Capacity Building grant
awarded in 2017, the Port began equitable engagement with communities in the Duwamish
Valley.
Over the last two years, Port staff and community members have engaged in a collaborative
learning and strategic planning process to build capacity and take action on shared priorities to
address inequities. The pilot project has built capacity across multiple Port-wide departments
such as Human Resources, External Relations, and others to embed equity in their approaches
with the Duwamish Valley. Lessons learned from the pilot will be incorporated into the
establishment of a long-term Duwamish Valley Community Equity Program. The Program will
be guided by a jointly-created Community Benefits Commitment (Commitment), and will
provide a roadmap and funding strategies for how the Port and community will collaborate now
and in the future. To ensure equity, actions included in the Commitment and its
implementation will work to address the concerns of residents, workers, communities of color,
immigrants, refugees, Native Americans, people with low incomes, youth, LGBTQ people,
people with disabilities, limited English proficiency individuals, and women- and people of
color-owned businesses and organizations in the Duwamish Valley.
The Port of Seattle and the Duwamish Valley community have developed three shared goals to
continue this critical work:
1. Community and Port Capacity Building for Ongoing Collaboration – Provide training
for Port staff to inclusively engage near-Port neighbors and build community capacity
that empowers their meaningful participation in Port decision-making processes that
affect the Duwamish Valley. Provide training for community members to better
Motion 2019-07 – Duwamish Valley Community Equity Program Page 3 of 3
understand the Port’s mission, operations, and programs and support for their ongoing
consultation on community engagement best practices.
2. Healthy Environment and Communities – Reduce environmental harms that impact
the health and livability of near-Port Duwamish Valley communities.
3. Economic Prosperity in Place – Innovate and convene Port-related industries to
support anti-displacement solutions through targeted access to living wage jobs,
training, career pathways, and other support programs that enable near-Port Duwamish
Valley neighbors to thrive in place.
To support this work, the Port Community Action Team (PCAT), a compensated advisory
committee consisting of Duwamish Valley community members, was formed in 2017. In
alignment with pilot project goals, the group has developed the following mission statement to
guide its collaboration with the Port:
The Duwamish Valley PCAT is a group of neighbors from Georgetown and South Park
who are collaborating with the Port of Seattle to remedy their historical and current
disproportionate, cumulative impacts to the environment and its people. To further our
goals of a healthy, sustainable community, we are creating a Community Benefits
Commitment with the Port based on the principles of equity, anti-displacement, and
empowerment. Our agreement will focus on principles of environmental justice by
promoting a clean environment, increasing economic opportunities, and building
community capacity.
