Register for WILD (Wilderness Inner-city Leadership Development) Program Fall 2023!
Registration is open for WILD’s Fall 2023 term! WILD (Wilderness Inner-city Leadership Development) is a youth program that empowers youth of color (ages 14-18), primarily those who come from immigrant and refugee Asian Pacific Islander families, to learn about environmental justice and civic engagement. In our programming, youth will engage in leadership development, intergenerational community in the CID, and outdoor adventures while earning their choice of a $100 stipend or 20 community service hours for participating in the 10-week program. Our fall program will run from October 18 through December 14 and will meet on Wednesdays from 3-5pm and Thursdays from 4-6pm at 310 Maynard Ave S. For more information, please reach out to skili@interimcda.org.


Photos of the 47th annual pig roast in the Danny Woo Garden in July 2023
Thank you to all who joined us at the annual pig roast last month! And huge thanks to those who provided financial support and donated food and time, including our pig roast sponsor Enterprise Community Partners, our gardeners and community members, Tai Tung, Fort St. George, Uwajimaya, and Starbucks. And very big thank you to our garden staff, KaeLi Deng and Kathryn Tehl for all their work on the event!








Coalition of CID partners celebrates approval of north and south stations as preferred alternative, reducing risk of community displacement

PRESS RELEASE For immediate release
Thursday, March 23, 2023
PRESS CONTACTS:
Christina Shimizu, Executive Director, Puget Sound Sage, 206-552-5508, chrissy@pugetsoundsage.org
Derek Lum, Advocacy and Policy Manager, InterImCDA, dlum@interimcda.org
Nina Wallace, CID Coalition, 360-305-0160, cidnohotel@gmail.com
Coalition of CID partners celebrates approval of north and south stations as preferred alternative, reducing risk of community displacement
WHAT: The Sound Transit board has approved the north and south stations for the West Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions (WSBLE) project that Coalition of CID partners have advocated for.
Chinatown International District, Seattle, King County –
After a long and difficult fight to choose a preferred alternative, the Chinatown International District (CID) Coalition, Puget Sound Sage and InterImCDA are celebrating a major victory for securing the future growth and development of the CID neighborhood to be equitable, affordable, and a sustainable place for immigrants and working class communities of color to live and thrive for generations to come.
The coalition’s fight for a station location is rooted in the vision to maximize opportunity for equitable transit-oriented development, provide great transit options, stop the acceleration of gentrification, and for the survival of a community that has struggled for decades from racist policies and land grabbing encroachment. This decision is a critical step in acknowledging and repairing past harms.
“We extend our sincere appreciation to the Sound Transit board and staff, including Mayor Harrell, Executive Constantine and Council President Juarez for supporting north and south. We want to especially thank Councilmember Tammy Morales, for hearing our voices and concerns and being a vocal advocate against displacement and for inclusive transit oriented development,” said Christina Shimizu, Executive Director of Puget Sound Sage. “We are grateful for their willingness to listen and recognize the importance of our long-standing history and the need for access to regionally connected transit, affordable housing, and opportunities for culturally relevant equitable transit oriented development (eTOD) that do not accelerate gentrification pressures in the neighborhood.”
The CID Coalition, InterIm CDA, and Puget Sound Sage are committed to fighting speculative corporate development and displacement, and to ensuring that communities of color are centered in decision-making around transit and land use. “Good planning means something different for different communities,” Shimizu added. “A truly equitable and inclusive urbanism, and density done right, requires policymakers to listen to communities of color and trust that we know what is best for our neighborhoods.”
“InterIm CDA has been a community based organization serving the needs of the CID for 53 years,” said InterIm CDA Executive Director Pradeepta Upadhyay. “We endorsed the north and south station locations option after weighing the significant impacts on the CID and its property owners, businesses, community organizations, and residents. Based on our values, we believe this is the best option for the community. We thank the Sound Transit board for making the right choice, and look forward to working with the community and Sound Transit to make these options the best they can be for the CID.”
While the CID Coalition, Puget Sound Sage and InterIm CDA are celebrating this victory, they are also aware that their work is not done. The coalition plans to stay engaged and organized to ensure that the community benefits the most from the station: pedestrian improvements for walking and rolling, lighting, and wayfinding among other community benefits and mitigation connected to the light rail line as well as righting past harms. They will also advocate for a platform to connect Sounder to the South of CID station, expanded greenspace and protections for City Hall park, and access to culturally relevant, community based eTOD to provide much-needed affordable housing for the neighborhood.
“This win is only one step to repairing the harm and distrust in our communities, and the destruction that previous infrastructure projects have wrought on the CID,” said Monyee Chau of the CID Coalition. “The copious amount of labor that organizers have put in to protect our neighborhood is a testament to how deeply we all care for this community, and I have so much gratitude for everyone who helped us fight for this win. May we continue to make these conversations more accessible and inclusive of all the people that they affect, and move forward with collaboration and a commitment to ensuring that the Chinatown International District community remains a vibrant and thriving part of Seattle.”
About the CID Coalition:
The Chinatown International District Coalition is a grassroots, multiracial, multiethnic and multigenerational organization that works to promote social, economic, and environmental justice for low-income communities of color in the CID and Greater Seattle. They fight against displacement, gentrification, and the erasure of community history and culture.
About Puget Sound Sage:
Puget Sound Sage charts a path to a living economy in the South Salish Sea and Duwamish River Valley (greater Seattle) regions by developing community power to influence, lead, and govern. We ground our policies in grassroots organizing & community-based research with people directly impacted by systems of oppression and organizations serving BIPOC workers, their families and communities. Through the power of grassroots organizing, policy and advocacy strategies, and leveraging the influence of coalitions centering impacted communities, we have organized for and passed some of our region’s most exciting policies that promote climate justice, good jobs and equitable development in low-wage and people of color communities. Our campaigns and theory of change are rooted in intersectional economic & racial justice, which for us means organizing historically disenfranchised people and bringing them together to build power as a vehicle for social change.
About InterIm CDA:
InterIm CDA was created in 1969 and is a nonprofit affordable housing and community development organization based in Seattle’s Chinatown/International District (CID). Since 1969 InterIm CDA (ICDA) provides multilingual, culturally competent housing and community building services to those disenfranchised due to lack of English, low acculturation and poverty. Though historically ICDA’s focus was on the API community living in the CID, they currently serve about 5,000 unduplicated low-income limited English speaking individuals from Asia, Africa and America throughout the greater Puget Sound.
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WILD Spring 2023: REGISTER NOW!
WILD Spring 2023 quarter is now open for registration!
Know a teen who wants to connect with their API culture and people in the CID, build their leadership skills, learn about environmental and food justice and earn a stipend or school service hours while doing so? Contact Malika Aiyer, InterIm WILD program manager to learn about the upcoming spring quarter and how to register to participate! Contact: maiyer@interimcda.org. Learn more about WILD on our website. [https://interimcda.org/wild/]. Get more details on spring quarter activities (arts projects, environmental justice/climate change, seed-to-plate activities in the Danny Woo Garden, adulting) in the flyers below:





Enterprise Article
Building community resilience through placemaking! Enterprise recently showcased InterIm CDA’s real estate development director Leslie Morishita and a few of our buildings in the CID including Hirabayashi Place and Uncle Bob’s Place: “Housing is fundamental,” Morishita said, “but we also want to take every opportunity to serve this community. We include a focus on art to lift the history and culture of the place and engage the community that’s here.” Check our the full article! Photos by Channing Johnson Photography.
WILD Program
WILD has an after-school program focused on environmental, social justice, community, and leadership building.
Community-driven victory in the CID
On Saturday, Oct. 15 hundreds gathered in Hing Hay Park to celebrate King County’s announcement the day before that they would not be expanding services at the Salvation Army-operated shelter in SODO.
King County and Seattle opened the shelter two years ago without a word to the community or any kind of engagement or outreach. The community then recently learned the county was planning to expand it into a 5-block, low barrier 500-person ‘mega shelter’ with an RV parking lot, tiny house village, sobering center, and acute behavioral crisis center. Again, there had been no outreach the CID neighborhood about the expansion.
This became an issue of systemic racism the Chinatown-International District has faced time and time again. From I-5 splitting the neighborhood in half, to the construction of the Kingdome to neglect regarding public safety issues (why are the lights still off in the InterIm CDA parking lot under the freeway, Seattle City Light?), this was yet another example of, as InterIm’s statement to Seattle City and Council and King County Council said, “an intentional ploy to keep the poorest people of color down, to concentrate them in one small area away from whiter more affluent areas, and to pit them against each other.”
Initial community notification was started by Tanya Woo, Gary Lee, and Julie Neilson after they learned about it in a Public Safety Council meeting. Tanya then took the lead on uniting the community to push back against the expansion. Elders in the CID joined their efforts and marched in protest and testified at City of Seattle and King County Council Meetings to make their voices and concerns heard. InterIm CDA was the first of several agencies who publicly approved of the pushback and provided financial support of their efforts.
Activists planned a protest and rally to take place in Hing Hay Park on Saturday, Oct. 15. But before they could hold it, on Friday, Oct. 14, King County Executive Dow Constantine announced the expansion project was canceled due to our united efforts. What started as a protest turned into a celebration of community activism, community pride, and a reflection of those past and present who have continued to advocate for and protect the CID.
Photos by Randy Wo-Eng
InterIm CDA statement to Seattle City Council and King County Council on SODO shelter location adjacent to Chinatown-ID
The King County Regional Homelessness Authority says it stands for racial equity and social justice, however, their planned homeless megaplex next to the CID looks like an intentional ploy to keep the poorest people of color down, to concentrate them in one small area away from whiter more affluent areas, and to pit them against each other.
Stand up for racial equity and social justice! Learn more and take action: https://www.friendsofseattlecid.com/
For InterIm CDA’s letter to the Seattle City Council: To Seattle City Council regarding the planned homeless megaplex next to the CID
For InterIm CDA’s letter to the King County Council: To King County Council regarding the planned homeless megaplex next to the CID
Photos by Eugene Tagawa.


Celebrating National Voter Registration Day!

Did you know that tomorrow is National Registration Day? National Voter Registration Day is a nonpartisan civic holiday that commemorates our democracy and was first observed in 2012. Approximately 4.7 million citizens end up registering throughout our country on this specific day.
For those that are registered to vote, this is the day where you can also update your information regarding to changes in your location, name, or even updating your own voter ballot signature. You can update your address online or by mail until 8 days before an election.
Many organizations and volunteers throughout the country have end up creating awareness for this day and we are in support of this day as well. To our Washingtonians who have not yet registered, feel free to register online, by mail, by print, or in person at your nearest county elections department. Registrations online, by print, or by mail can only be done until 8 days before an election. Be #VoteReady for #NationalVoterRegistrationDay!!
Register to vote now:
For Washingtonians: https://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/register.aspx
For non-Washingtonians: https://nationalvoterregistrationday.org/register-to-vote/
Soul Healing Festival
InterIm CDA is partnering with The Future Ancient to host the first ever Soul Healing Festival in the Chinatown International District!
20+ cultural artists and groups share their music, song, story and dance, 2 fashion shows, and 2 live bands bless us with their creative talents and beautiful lineages (4-8pm). We also offer free acupuncture, massage, yoga and Qi Gong to the people (1-4pm). After sundown, a movie in the park A Different Mirror: Resilience and Community Building in Seattle’s Chinatown International District (CID), in the heart of the CID, Hing Hay Park!
1-10pm at Hing Hay Park 423 Maynard Ave S.
4pm live-stream at www.TheFutureAncient.org
@theFutureAncient
Here is also the facebook page for the event : https://www.facebook.com/events/1136883250540342


