This year’s Seattle Parks Levy is a huge opportunity to upgrade Seattle’s community centers to be climate resilience hubs — to be powered by clean energy and provide clean air, cooling and shelter for all Seattle residents. These investments will create union jobs that directly benefit local communities and move Seattle’s public buildings off fossil fuels.

Join us for canvassing or phone-banking! Or come learn more about the campaign and get connected to taking action by joining our weekly HTHS Volunteer Welcome call on Tuesdays @ 6:30pm all summer long. Can’t make it on Tuesdays? Sign up for a 1 to 1 orientation with our Welcome Team and we’ll get you plugged in.

Like COVID, heat waves and wildfire smoke multiply existing injustices. Whether you can access AC during a heat wave in Seattle has far too much to do with whether you are white or a person of color, whether you rent, own your home, or are houseless, and what neighborhood you live in. According to the CDC, Black and Indigenous people and low-income people are most likely to have to go to the hospital for a smoke-related asthma attack. For many South Seattle residents of color, wildfire smoke compounds the air pollution they already experience from nearby industrial operations and from I-5 and I-90.  

To stay healthy through heat and smoke, we need accessible public places where all Seattle residents can access clean air, cooling, and shelter. But in last year’s heat wave, only 2 of our 26 community centers had AC – and earlier this year,  we learned that City leaders are postponing the AC upgrades for two libraries that we won in the 2022 city budget.

Climate justice can’t wait. That’s why leading up to City Council’s final vote on the Parks Levy Spending Plan in September 2022, we’re calling on City leaders to: 

1. Upgrade Seattle’s community centers for climate resilience and clean energy, including: installing rooftop solar microgrids, electric heat pumps, and HVAC system upgrades all in the same building. 
2. Ensure that investments go first to communities most impacted by heat waves, pollution, displacement and other environmental injustices. 
3. Use union labor and policies which support pathways to good green jobs, like training opportunities through state registered apprenticeships and priority local hire for neighborhood residents. 
4. Leverage state and federal dollars to stretch our local investment and fully upgrade every Seattle community center before 2035 – in line with the City’s commitment to transition all municipal buildings off fossil fuels by 2035.

Read & share our full community endorsement letter here. 

With the 2019 Green New Deal resolution, Seattle set a community-led course for climate justice: committing to eliminating our climate pollution by 2030 while creating green union jobs and healthy environments for all. Every City levy, budget and initiative is an opportunity to invest in Seattle’s Green New Deal and a healthy future for our families – and we can’t wait another decade to get started.  

Join us as we build power to win Green New Deal investments in this year’s Parks Levy! 

Each week we’re canvassing at community centers and phone-banking to connect with new supporters! Check out our calendar for upcoming events and to RSVP.

Want to get involved but not sure where to start? We’ve got a great team of folks ready to answer any questions you have about the campaign or 350 Seattle and help welcome you into the movement for climate justice! Sign up for a 1 to 1 orientation with our welcome team here. 

Questions? Contact Jess.