9.
Alliances
Puget Sound Sage
City
Seattle
Year Founded
2007
Type of Collaborators
Their cross-sector approach brings together community, faith, labor, immigrant & refugee, transit, environmental and public sector partners who may not have a previous working history.
eTOD, affordable housing, real estate, economic justice - good jobs, environmental justice, community leadership, racial equity, economic justice
Issue Area
Seattle is in a state of housing crisis – a legacy of racist housing policies and practices has led to a reality where homeownership is out of reach for low-income households and people of color;For the past three years, Puget Sound Sage, Futurewise, Housing Development Consortium, TCC, and other housing and transportation advocates have been working with Sound Transit to ensure that there is a strong ETOD policy to guide the implementation of our regional transit system. This coalition supported the passage of the 80-80-80 policy in 2016, which requires Sound Transit to offer 80 percent of its surplus property to affordable housing developers and make 80 percent of the units affordable for those earning 80 percent or less of the area median income. Together, housing and transportation advocates then worked with the Sound Transit Board and staff to develop the ETOD policy framework that passed in late April of 2018. Recently, Enterprise awarded over $300,000 to five community development corporations (CDCs) and other nonprofit developers in Puget Sound, supporting organizational preparation and predevelopment costs. Shape the Debate: Puget Sound Sage is at the forefront of shaping the debate on groundbreaking economic, environmental and equity issues in the region. Elected officials, opinion-leaders and the media view Puget Sound Sage as go-to resources for economic and environmental policy expertise, seeking our organization’s innovative ideas and racial equity expertise when it comes to shaping sound policies and winning local campaigns. Grow the Movement: We advocate for policy that makes racial and social equity a top goal for decision makers at all levels of government. We believe communities of color can prosper in place by harnessing market forces and public investment, with their own vision for growth at the center of local planning. Build Community Power: Forming deep partnerships are essential to building equity in the Puget Sound Region. Only though long-term relationship building can we change the regional power map and accrue more power for our communities. Sage has initiated numerous programs in each of its issue areas. a. Good Jobs programs include Labor Standards Enforcement and Airport Worker Justice. b. Equitable Development programs include the Community Real Estate Stewardship Learning Circle which is a pilot learning circle, designed to support and train grassroots organizations led by and for low-income communities and communities of color in pursuing community driven development, land stewardship, and strategies for long-term affordability, South Communities Organizing for Racial & Regional Equity (SouthCore) represent a growing multiracial coalition of 21 community and member- based organizations shaping eTOD, and the Transit Equity Alliance. c. Community Leadership programs include the Puget Sound Sage Community Leadership Institute which is a fellowship rooted in a values based curriculum focused on racial and social justice. Forward Policy Solutions: We generate research and in-depth reports that illuminate some of our region’s most pressing problems, incorporating data from diverse local and national sources. We have produced community based participatory research, which involves affected communities in the study’s design and data collection. By unapologetically centering racial justice and equity in all of our work, we have moved numerous groundbreaking policies on transit, housing, labor standards, and climate justice. Newly TOD areas throughout the region of Seattle
Political Opportunity
Geographic Scope
Organizational Function
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TRANSFORMATION ALLIANCE STRATEGIC ARTICULATION MAP & FUND DEVELOPMENT PLAN REPORT
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