Seattle residents’ daily lives are more disrupted each year as climate change worsens. Storms and debris have closed schools, floods have damaged and risked homes, global events have interrupted supply and food chains, and pollution and extreme heat continue to harm our health.
In the last couple of months, Seattle’s Green New Deal Oversight Board worked with unions and community organizations to host five community assembly sessions. Union members and workers, residents, and social justice and youth advocates came together to brainstorm climate solutions to support residents in every corner of our City.
Community assemblies are forums that bring people together to make decisions as a community and influence government action through civic engagement. Local community groups have built community assembly programs across the United States.
The City of Seattle and the Office of Sustainability and Environment (OSE), and Seattle’s Green New Deal Oversight Board, are proud to learn from and work with these groups. The City and the Board focus resilience efforts and investments in communities hit first and worst by climate change. These are most often residents in low-income neighborhoods, communities of color, and jobs in industrial and outdoor areas. Individuals from these groups formed the community assemblies, with up to 40 participants in each meeting.
MLK Labor — a labor union representing more than 100,000 workers in King County — gathered members to share how climate change is impacting their workplaces and industries in three evening sessions. The workers represented a range of sectors, from construction and electrical work, to education and food service.
The union members discussed how extreme weather negatively affects job safety, working conditions, and health outcomes. They explored solutions, such as workplace protections from extreme heat and pollution. OSE Director Jessyn Farrell stopped by their final session to thank the workers for sharing their experiences with the City, helping the Board and OSE address the needs of workers through climate policy and investments. Read Public News Service’s article highlighting the work of these sessions.
The Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle organized youth and social justice advocates to discuss the challenges frontline communities face in Seattle, including displacement, food insecurity, environmental hazards, and the marginalization of communities of color. They explained how climate change worsens these inequities and disproportionately affects Seattle’s most vulnerable communities.
The members explained that addressing these underlying inequities would help ease the burdens caused by climate change. They advocated for increased investments in affordable housing, resilient local food systems, and climate justice curriculum for youth.
Community assembly recommendations will be detailed in a comprehensive report and released next year by OSE and the Oversight Board. The report will guide the Board in identifying their priorities for investments and policy recommendations to the City. The community solutions in the report will also inform the City’s climate action planning.
OSE is incredibly grateful to our partner organizations, all the assembly participants, and the Green New Deal Oversight Board for their time and for sharing their experiences and knowledge. Be the first to read their recommendations by subscribing to OSE’s newsletter.
About Seattle’s Green New Deal and its Oversight Board
In 2019, Seattle passed the Green New Deal Resolution and an executive order, directing all City departments to work together with the Green New Deal Oversight Board and other community partners to reach the goal of eliminating all City climate pollution by 2030. The Oversight Board is composed of representatives who have expertise and lived experiences with climate and environmental injustices, particularly in communities of color. The Board supports the equitable implementation of the Green New Deal in alignment with community priorities and needs.