_{January 2021 Newsletter - Published Jan. 22, 2021}

Pollution profiteering masking as climate policy

INCYMI: This past weekend, we wrote a blog post detailing our opposition to SB 5126 and all forms of Cap and Trade in advance of the WA Senate hearing on Tuesday. Below is a testimony given by our Climate Justice team during the hearing:

“This bill [SB 5126] lowers the bar on strong environmental justice policy and was not developed in consultation with people most impacted by the harms created by the pollution caused when regulatory measures are blatantly ignored.

Environmental justice requires collaboration with the communities most impacted in the lead up and development of policies that affect them. It is both a process and an outcome.”

- Yolanda Matthews, Puget Sound Sage's Climate Justice Organizer

READ OUR FULL STATEMENT

Program Updates

Deepening our understanding of community stewardship of land

More than 60 community members came together on a Saturday morning to learn more about the Community Real Estate Stewardship Team (CREST)'s development projects and what it means to own and control land as a community.

Among the CREST members who presented were: Multicultural Community Coalition (MCC) who is building a center for marginalized communities and youth, where they can turn to for an internship, a first job, or for a career-building employment pathway; Washington State Coalition of African Community Leaders (WSCACL) is developing community hubs in each county where there are huge populations of African immigrants; Rainier Beach Action Coalition is building a Food Innovation Center with plans to expand the Rainier Beach Station into a Food Innovation District; and Africatown told the story of bringing community into action to acquire Fire Station 6 and transform it into the William Grose Center for Cultural Innovation.

At the end of the presentations, attendees felt inspired and hopeful to know that places can be designed not solely for profit, but to serve as cultural centers, keep communities in place, and enrich the lives of the people who are already living in those neighborhoods.

In case you missed the event, watch the recording here. Interested in learning more about CREST? Email our CREST Program Manager, Kayla Jackson!

Don’t forget to RSVP to the Big Tech Teach-in!

Date: Thursday, January 28

Time: 5:00 - 6:30pm PST

Concerns about Big Tech’s monopoly power are multiplying. Seattle-based corporate giant Amazon has accumulated enormous power over our economy and our lives. But what is a monopoly? What are the dangers of monopoly, and how are we impacted as residents, consumers, business owners and workers? And most importantly, what can we do about it?

Attend our teach-in to find out! We’ll be joined by presenters from the WA State Attorney General’s office to talk about how our state enforces antitrust laws, and emerging concerns related to Big Tech.

RSVP HERE

Front and Centered Community and Media Briefing

WATCH: Community & Media Briefing – Environmental Justice Priorities During the 2021 Legislative Session

Front and Centered hosted a Community and Media Briefing on Environmental Justice and the 2021 HEAL Act (Healthy Environment for All) to gear up for the 2021 WA Legislative Session. The HEAL Act aims to center those most affected by pollution as Washington transitions to a greener and fairer economy. One of the experts who joined the briefing was our Climate Justice Organizer, Yolanda Matthews!

WATCH NOW

STAFF UPDATES

We will miss you, Michael!

With great sadness, we say goodbye to Michael Moore this month as he transitions out of his role as Operations Director at Puget Sound Sage.

As Puget Sound Sage’s first Operations Director, Michael built an incredible set of financial and operations systems, including the development of a team-led annual budgeting process, an overhaul of our accounting systems, and the facilitation of our first financial audit in 2019. He’s played a key role in many of Puget Sound Sage’s transitions over the years, including leadership transitions, moving everyone virtual this past spring, and supporting last year’s launch of Sage Leaders, our 501c4 sister organization.

In many ways, the roles of an Operations Director are often unseen. It can’t be overstated how critical Michael’s diligence was to developing a strong internal foundation, and supporting staff members across the organization as they grew and thrived in their leadership. Michael’s steady and meticulous work, often behind the scenes, provided core support and guidance, and will support staff long beyond his tenure at Sage.

As Ops Director, Michael was a go-to resource for all staff on everything from timesheets to Star Wars trivia, accounting releases to the best place to grab lunch in the CID. We will especially miss his quick wit and easy laughter, and the hum of chatter that’d surround his desk as dusk would set in the office before heading home for the day.

We’re deeply grateful for Michael’s leadership, and wish him the very best in what life brings him next!

Eliana Horn (she/they/them/her) started as Policy Research Consultant at Puget Sound Sage this month

Eliana is an organizer, attorney, and researcher. As an organizer for housing justice for over seven years, Eliana has advised hundreds of tenants on their rights, supported tenants in buildings across Washington to form tenant associations, and helped them organize against displacement and for better conditions.

In 2014, Eliana helped elder and disabled tenants organize against a predatory landlord. The tenants were able to sue the landlord winning a 5.7 million dollar settlement. With the support of Eliana and many others, the tenants created a fund to support housing projects furthering community stewardship of land for extremely low-income people in the city of Seattle.

In addition to their role at Puget Sound Sage, Eliana works as a removal defense attorney at Colectiva Legal Del Pueblo representing people in immigration removal proceedings, filing affirmative immigration applications, and suing the Government for the release of noncitizens from detention. Eliana hopes to provide more legal, research and organizing capacity to support movements organizing for community stewardship of land and resources in the future – stay tuned!

Eliana’s Role at Sage

Eliana is a consultant on our COVID-19 Resilience project in partnership with the Multicultural Community Center Coalition and Rainier Beach Action Coalition. They will be helping the team research the impacts and risks of disaster gentrification on south end communities, develop a policy platform and write a framing report centering community stewardship of land.

What makes you most excited about this role?

"I dream of a Seattle where land is a shared and valued resource that is about cultivating community and meeting the needs of people, not about profit. I am so thrilled, honored and humbled to be working with the Multicultural Community Coalition and Rainier Beach Action Coalition who are leading in this fight.

The movement for community stewardship of land is in an important moment, and has the opportunity to grow tremendously. We are planning ahead to ward off the impacts of COVID-19 disaster gentrification and this project will allow us to support the growth of a movement that not only prevents mass dispossession of land and housing from BIPOC and low-income communities, but changes the fundamental dynamics of how land and housing is approached in King County by centering community, affordability and sustainability for many, not future profit for the few. I hope this project helps build BIPOC and low-income ownership, control, and governance of homes, neighborhoods, and communities and supports the demands to redistribute land back to the Indigenous and Black communities from it has been taken."

What are some quarantine/socially distanced hobbies and practices you’ve picked up?

"Spontaneous dance parties, pretending to start a bagel shop, teaching my dog to shut the door behind him, drawing, crying, laughing, writing notes to my neighbors, practicing gratitude."

We're hiring!

Deputy Director

We are seeking an experienced Deputy Director to lead the internal operations of our dynamic, values-driven organizations (our 501c3 and 501c4 Sage Leaders).

We are looking for someone who is passionate about building strong teams and effective management in a social justice setting – creating an environment rooted in love where our people come first and Black brilliance shines; and a skilled finance professional who finds joy in leading efficient accounting and operations systems in service of a bold mission.

Read the full job description here.

IN THE NEWS

Amazon’s housing philanthropy will not save us

“We live in a society that systematically hands over our collectively produced wealth to a tiny minority, leaving the majority insecure if not struggling mightily to meet basic needs. And we’re supposed to be grateful for a little tax-deductible charity from our corporate overlords? Sorry, no. Tax ‘em, unionize ‘em, break ‘em up — there are many better ways to get the wealth flowing in the other direction.”

Read more

Multiple workers for PSE trim and remove trees to clear pathways for the utility lines.

Who should foot the bill for pandemic-era power?

In the future, utility companies, like Puget Sound Energy could come back to the Commission and ask to make that money back by raising rates for customers. But power companies could decide to make up the difference in other ways, like dipping into shareholder funds, executive payments and bonuses.

Read more

In Seattle, Corporations Must Pay Their Fair Share to Support Climate Justice — Episode 119 of Local Energy Rules

“Community stewardship of land essentially transforms the purpose of land to not just be a commodity designed for creating personal wealth, individual wealth, but treating land as a shared resource intended to benefit all communities and keep them resilient.” – Abigail Juaner, Equitable Development Program Manager at Puget Sound Sage

Listen to the podcast episode

COMMUNITY CORNER

Community partners of Black and Tan Hall

Seattle’s new Black and Tan Hall aims to be community hub — and economic model for changing neighborhood. "Hunter and his two co-founders, Tarik Abdullah and Rodney Herold, used their collective experience in community organizing, education, food and entertainment to envision a “for-profit business that places people over profit.”

Got Green and Sunrise Seattle are hosting an introductory training on what cap and trade is, its impacts on frontline communities, how it acts against environmental justice principles, and more. Next Monday, January 25th at 5pm.

Hundreds of Google Employees Unionize, Culminating Years of Activism. The creation of the union, a rarity in Silicon Valley, follows years of increasing outspokenness by Google workers. Executives have struggled to handle the change.

Future Gazing: What if care was the organizing principle of our society? "What if care was us acknowledging our presence on someone else’s ancestral lands? Lands that are marked by Indigenous peoples’ resistance, the Black radical tradition, and also by Chinatown histories of striking railroad, textile factory, and hand laundromat workers?"