Item Number:      7a_____ 
Meeting Date:   May 28, 2019_ 

1                                                   MOTION 2019-07: 
2                                 A MOTION OF THE PORT OF SEATTLE COMMISSION 
3 
4                           formalizing   the   Duwamish   Valley   Community   Equity
5                           Program  and   its   collaboration  with  Duwamish  Valley
6                           communities   to   strengthen   community-port   capacity
7                           building, improve environmental health and livability, and
8                           increase access to workforce and economic development
9                           opportunities. 
10 
11                                                   PROPOSED 
12                                                 MAY 28, 2019 
13 
14                                              TEXT OF THE MOTION 
15 
16    To advance the goals of the Duwamish Valley Community Equity Program (DVCE) the Port of
17    Seattle Commission directs the Executive Director to form a Port-wide DVCE Interdepartmental
18    Team (IDT) representing all applicable Port divisions including, but not limited to, External
19    Relations, Environment and Sustainability, Equity, Maritime, Economic Development, Human
20    Resources that dedicates staff time, funding, and resources to accomplish the following:
21 
22        1.  Recommend a DVCE program budget, for Commission approval, that will designate staff
23            time and resources for annual programming to accomplish program goals. 
24 
25        2.  Collaborate with the Port Community Action Team (PCAT) in program decisions and 
26            implementation.  With  support  from  the  PCAT,  develop  a  Community  Benefits
27            Commitment for Commission consideration by Q4 2019. The Commitment will provide
28            guiding principles, a list of immediate and future actionable items, a strategy and
29            timeline to accomplish goals, a charter for the PCAT, and auditable reporting standards. 
30 
31        3.  Leverage  Port  resources  in  coordination  with  other  public  agencies  and  external 
32            partners to ensure that DVCE objectives align with other local equity initiatives. 
33 
34        4.  Identify funding opportunities that continue ongoing actions and launch new, multi-year
35            special projects that address community priorities including, but not limited to, capacity
36            building, environmental benefits such as, air quality and shoreline improvements, and 
37            economic and workforce development in the Duwamish Valley. 
38        5.  Collaborate with the PCAT to develop an annual reporting and evaluation framework to 
39            provide recommendations to  Port leadership. T he framework  will used to analyze 
40            program effectiveness and guide actions. 
41 

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42                                     STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE MOTION 
43 
44    In 2013, the Cumulative Health Impacts Analysis (CHIA) was co-authored by Just Health Action
45    and the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition/Technical Advisory Group. The CHIA found that a
46    range of health exposures and impacts disproportionately affect people in the Duwamish
47    Valley, an area with the greatest number of contaminated waste sites, poor built environment
48    characteristics, and severe air pollution compared to the rest of Seattle. Life expectancy in the
49    neighborhoods of Georgetown and South Park is up to 13 years shorter than wealthier parts of
50    Seattle. With the support of this data, the Duwamish Valley is characterized as an area with
51    disproportionate health impacts and environmental injustices where more effective actions and
52    investments are needed to address health and economic inequities. 
53 
54    The 2011 Century Agenda commits the Port of Seattle to create opportunity for all, steward our
55    environment responsibly, partner with surrounding communities, promote social responsibility,
56    conduct ourselves transparently and hold ourselves accountable. Recognizing that some near-
57    Port communities, such as South Park and Georgetown, experience a higher proportion of 
58    environmental impacts and lack equitable access to the Port's benefits to the region, the Port of
59    Seattle launched a pilot project to address community equity issues. Originally as part of a U.S.
60    Environmental  Protection  Agency  Stakeholder  Engagement  and  Capacity  Building  grant
61    awarded in 2017, the Port began equitable engagement with communities in the Duwamish
62    Valley. 
63 
64    Over the last two years, Port staff and community members have engaged in a collaborative
65    learning and strategic planning process to build capacity and take action on shared priorities to
66    address inequities. The pilot project has built capacity across multiple Port-wide departments
67    such as Human Resources, External Relations, and others to embed equity in their approaches
68    with the Duwamish Valley. Lessons learned from the pilot will be incorporated into the
69    establishment of a long-term Duwamish Valley Community Equity Program. The Program will
70    be guided by a jointly-created Community Benefits Commitment (Commitment), and  will
71    provide a roadmap and funding strategies for how the Port and community will collaborate now
72    and  in  the  future.  To  ensure  equity,  actions  included  in  the  Commitment  and  its
73    implementation will work to address the concerns of residents, workers, communities of color,
74    immigrants, refugees, Native Americans, people with low incomes, youth, LGBTQ people,
75    people with disabilities, limited English proficiency individuals, and women- and people of
76    color-owned businesses and organizations in the Duwamish Valley. 
77 
78    The Port of Seattle and the Duwamish Valley community have developed three shared goals to 
79    continue this critical work: 
80 
81            1. Community and Port Capacity Building for Ongoing Collaboration  Provide training
82            for Port staff to inclusively engage near-Port neighbors and build community capacity
83            that empowers their meaningful participation in Port decision-making processes that
84            affect  the  Duwamish  Valley.  Provide  training  for  community  members  to  better

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85            understand the Port'smission, operations, and programs and support for their ongoing
86            consultation on community engagement best practices. 
87 
88            2. Healthy Environment and Communities  Reduce environmental harms that impact
89            the health and livability of near-Port Duwamish Valley communities. 
90 
91            3. Economic Prosperity in Place  Innovate and convene Port-related industries to
92            support  anti-displacement  solutions  through  targeted  access  to  living  wage  jobs,
93            training, career pathways, and other support programs that enable near-Port Duwamish
94            Valley neighbors to thrive in place. 
95 
96    To support this work, the Port Community Action Team (PCAT), a compensated advisory
97    committee consisting of Duwamish Valley community members, was formed  in 2017. In
98    alignment with pilot project goals, the group has developed the following mission statement to
99    guide its collaboration with the Port: 
100 
101            The Duwamish Valley PCAT is a group of neighbors from Georgetown and South Park
102            who are collaborating with the Port of Seattle to remedy their historical and current
103            disproportionate, cumulative impacts to the environment and its people. To further our
104            goals of a healthy, sustainable community, we are creating a Community Benefits
105            Commitment with the Port based on the principles of equity, anti-displacement, and
106            empowerment. Our agreement will focus on principles of environmental justice by
107            promoting  a  clean  environment,  increasing  economic  opportunities,  and  building
108            community capacity. 
109 









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