Environmental Equity
From 2018 to 2019 we focused on Environmental Equity through a range of community partnerships that engaged communities in Seattle neighborhoods including Seward Park, West Seattle, Northgate, and Sandpoint.
About Our Environmental Equity Series
Library Public Engagement programs have a focus on arts and culture, and their connections to race and social justice work. The resulting programming focuses on community-led projects with Indigenous, Black and Brown communities, including social media workshops.
As we designed our Environmental Equity series, we looked at Indigenous Knowledge systems as a starting point to consider how to take care of the environment at the twilight of drastic human-made environmental challenges.
The series kicked off with Bird Week, a partnership with the Seward Park Audubon Society that inspired several library branches to highlight multicultural books that looked at the importance of birds. Our opening events culminated in a special art program at Camp Second Chance, an encampment of tiny houses in West Seattle for community residents affected by the city’s housing crises.
The centerpiece of the Environmental Equity series was an 18-month community partnership with Clear Sky Native youth council. The young leaders at Clear Sky helped submit one of the first historic landmark applications for a Native sacred site. You can find out more about their project here.