Posts Tagged ‘City Habitats’

What’s Working & Who’s Missing?

Tuesday, 08 May, 2018 10:28 Written by Stewardship Partners
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Conversations of equity and youth pathways for green infrastructure

“I was shy, I was quiet, I would never be able to [speak to an audience like this]… Paulina gave me a voice… gave me a sense of purpose, gave me a safe place to do what I love to do which is to be an environmental activist for my community… in South Park and Georgetown.” These were the words of Daniella, a youth leader from the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps, speaking about her mentor, Paulina Lopez (who later received an award for youth mentorship from the City Habitats network). Voices and stories like Daniella’s took center stage at this year’s 3rd Annual Green Infrastructure Summit as we continued the quest to turn green infrastructure into a force for equity and environmental justice. A big part of that quest involves ensuring that as the green infrastructure sector grows, new jobs and career pathways are accessible and attractive to brilliant, diverse minds in communities disproportionately affected by pollution and environmental degradation.

On February 9th, Stewardship Partners reached another landmark in our leadership role of turning our region’s cities and towns from #GrayToGreen. As we convened the Puget Sound Green Infrastructure Summit, a City Habitats event, it was amazing to hear different perspectives from innovators across the region and sectors. Being mindful to “connect the dots” (.com, .org, .gov, and .edu), we are seeing more and more collaboration between public and private sectors, evident through the case studies and breakouts that day as well as research and implementation. The vision that inspired us to create this event in 2016 is beginning to turn into reality: the Puget Sound region is taking flight as a “Silicon Valley of Green Infrastructure.”

Photo credit: The Nature Conservancy/Courtney Baxter

As with the two previous summits, we intentionally centered and highlighted equity within the agenda and speakers throughout the day. The main theme of this year’s summit was green infrastructure jobs and youth pathways. With the understanding that host committee members and summit attendees are not youth in the community, we held a companion event, The Youth Forum on Green Infrastructure Jobs and Youth of Color, to ensure the youth voice was accurately represented. Held in January, this event brought together 20 young people of color together to discuss what they saw as barriers to entry into the green infrastructure field. This eye-opening discussion allowed us to bring new voices and faces into the conversation, informing workforce decision-makers who were in attendance at the summit.

To see the presentations, Youth Forum video, and other resources shared at the summit visit the summit webpage at: www.12000raingardens.org/summit

Green Infrastructure Summit: Next Generation Leaders

Wednesday, 28 February, 2018 16:02 Written by Stewardship Partners
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“I was shy, I was quiet, I would never be able to [speak to an audience like this]… Paulina gave me a voice… gave me a sense of purpose, gave me a safe place to do what I love to do which is to be an environmental activist for my community… in South Park and Georgetown.” These were the words of Daniella, a youth leader from the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps, speaking about her mentor, Paulina Lopez (who later received an award for youth mentorship from the City Habitats network). Voices and stories like Daniella’s took center stage at this year’s 3rd annual Green Infrastructure Summit as we continued a quest to make green infrastructure into a force for equity and environmental justice. A big part of that quest lies in making sure that as the Green Infrastructure sector grows, new jobs and career pathways become accessible and attractive to diverse and brilliant minds from communities disproportionately affected by pollution and environmental degradation.

On February 9th Stewardship Partners reached another landmark in our leadership role of turning our region’s cities and towns from #GrayToGreen. As we convened the Puget Sound Green Infrastructure Summit, a City Habitats event, it was amazing to see the difference this event makes for innovators across the region and sectors. As we continue to mindfully “connect the dots” (.com, .org, .gov, and .edu), we are seeing more and more collaboration between public and private sectors, as well as research and implementation. The vision that inspired us to create this event in 2016 is beginning to turn into reality: The Puget Sound region is taking flight as a “Silicon Valley of Green Infrastructure.”

As with both of the two previous summits, our cross-sector host committee (including Seattle Public Utilities, MIG|SvR, Washington State University, Salmon-Safe, Washington Environmental Council, and The Nature Conservancy) intentionally centered and highlighted equity within the agenda and speakers throughout the day. This year the main theme of the summit was green infrastructure jobs and youth pathways. A new companion event: The Youth Forum on Green Infrastructure Jobs and Youth of Color, held in January, allowed us to bring new voices and faces into the conversation, informing workforce decision-makers at the summit. The UW Bothell/Cascadia College campus (a Salmon-Safe certified campus) provided a powerful backdrop for the summit next to a created wetland and floodplain. Welcome remarks from Ken Workman, a direct descendant of Chief Seattle, Andy Rheaume, Bothell’s mayor, Anthony Guerrero of UW Bothell, and Aaron Clark, grounded the 220 attendees in time and place, ready to imagine and co-create our shared clean water and healthy community future. A few highlights from the day included: a keynote discussion on diversity in the green infrastructure field; an award for youth leadership given to Paulina Lopez of the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition and the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps; a panel on pavement and it’s immense impacts on water, habitat, and pollution; breakout sessions on trees, codes and policies, maps, mentorship and equity, and research gaps; case studies throughout the day; and calls to action from Washington State Representative Derek Stanford and Steve Shestag from Boeing.

Like everything Stewardship Partners does, this accomplishment was a team effort. It included the entire SP staff, an immense community of partners (especially those from the City Habitats network), the host committee, and of course the generous sponsors who, at 13 financial sponsors, have more than doubled our sponsor base from the first summit we convened in 2016. To see the presentations, videos and other resources shared at the summit visit the summit webpage at: www.12000raingardens.org/summit

City Habitats: Introducing the new Puget Sound campaign working to green our urban world

Tuesday, 15 November, 2016 11:32 Written by Stewardship Partners
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On the heels of last February’s first of its kind Green Infrastructure Summit, Stewardship Partners entered into a collaborative effort to develop a new campaign aimed at reinventing the way Puget Sound residents engage in their urban landscapes. Six months later, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, Washington Environmental Council and City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment, with help from dozens of other groups and hundreds of insightful stakeholders, that campaign is emerging as “City Habitats.”

Cities are where the vast majority of human habitat exists and, simultaneously, it is where natural habitats are most altered and diminished. Realizing that these dense, vibrant places are where nature’s services are most needed but also where people’s power to create, cultivate and curate nature is most available, a new question emerges. It is no longer “can we coexist sustainably with nature?” We are asking: “how best can we partner with nature?” and “what innovations will provide the most and the best benefits?” This call to innovation is at the heart of City Habitats.

This campaign resonates with Stewardship Partners’ mission and our distinct way of connecting people to the land and waters and place where they live. For you, our friends, partners, supporters, these ideas are not radical or new. But this collaboration provides a vehicle for more people to catch onto optimism and see opportunity. With innovation and emerging technologies, we can combine the urban and natural into a radically new kind of habitat.

Stay tuned as this campaign rolls out across the Puget Sound region. Stewardship Partners’ focus will remain the same but opportunities will expand. You can participate in both small and larger ways by choosing Salmon-Safe products in your local grocery or restaurant, volunteering for Snoqualmie River riverbank restoration and salmon habitat projects, building a rain garden or using other water management tools at your home or business, or by building and retrofitting better buildings.

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