DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOODS DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION

Geographic areas served: Southwest Seattle, WA

Programs: Affordable housing: affordable housing is more important than ever in seattle today. People who work in the city struggle to continue living here, and it is only getting harder. Dnda saw this trend developing early in our community, and today maintains 144 units of affordable housing in delridge, at seven properties, to allow teachers, public servants, artists, laborers and others, to live in the community where they work. Some of these units are reserved for families transitioning from homelessness.

arts programming and cultural development: for the last 10 years, dnda has been providing low-cost, affordable space for programs that benefit the community at the youngstown cultural arts center. There are currently 8 tenant nonprofit organizations renting affordable office and program space, including sw interagency academy, an alternative program of seattle public schools. Dnda partners with these tenant organizations and other high impact program providers to keep innovative and groundbreaking programming alive and well at youngstown. Through youngstown, dnda also provides affordable spaces for many other organizations and individuals to rent and host classes, workshops, programs, community events, and performances. Youngstown is a vital city resource, and a vibrant arts and cultural hub.

food justice: dnda has a strong history in food justice, working closely with the ws food bank to secure a permanent facility to make their services more sustainable and beneficial to the community. Dnda has also spearheaded the healthy corner stores project, successfully bringing fresh produce into corner stores along delridge. One of dnda's food justice programs, feest (food empowerment environment sustainability team), is now a nationally recognized and replicated model for engaging youth of color in nutrition and food systems change.

education: dnda emphasizes programming at youngstown that specifically seeks to serve students enrolled at southwest interagency academy, some of the city's highest-need youth. Interagency is a second-chance high school, welcoming young people just out of jail and the juvenile detention system, for whom traditional public schools are no longer an option. Mostly low- income youth of color, these young people face trauma, systemic oppression, addiction to drugs and alcohol, and a host of other risk factors that they must overcome in order to thrive. Dnda works hard to leverage partners and youth workers to come together in providing a network of support for these vulnerable young people.