PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Information
Marissa Wong
Phone: (206) 806-7389
Email: marissawong@deniselouie.org
Denise Louie Education Center (DLEC) has played an imperative role within the Chinatown-International District (CID) for over 40 years. Today, DLEC continues its passion for inclusivity and love for community through its mission and implementation of services and programs to serve children and families in need throughout the CID and King County.
DLEC has served as the fiscal sponsor to develop the CID Neighborhood Strategic Plan, spanning 10 years, which focuses on 6 issue areas, including:
1) Community Safety & Health
2) Business & Economic Strength
3) Neighborhood Character, Culture & History
4) Housing
5) Transportation & Mobility
6) Community Strength & Self-Determination
The principles of civility, inclusion, equity, collaboration, and shared purpose are the project’s guiding principles. Based on multiple sources of community input, there are 3 phases for implementation:
Phase 1 consists of 60 CID community leaders participating in comprehensive interviews and 3 focus groups with residents
Phase 2: Community feedback, including a 580-response survey whose results most significantly influenced the plan
Phase 3: Develop more specific actions, timelines, and budgets in the hope of boosting community, collaboration, and engagement.
The subsequent phase of the neighborhood planning process aims to identify, integrate, and celebrate the complexity of the diverse voices within the CID community to ensure that the area will continue to be a vibrant, sustainable community for present and future generations.
The CID is a historically significant and culturally rich community in Seattle’s south downtown that has seen decades of insufficient investment, harmful public policies, and institutional racism. In recent years, the community has faced new public and private development pressures, the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and violence. In 2019, several CID organizations came together informally as the CID Visioning Advisory Group to identify how the community can have a stronger voice and influence in the face of these multiple pressures. With funding from the City of Seattle, the group has sponsored a community process to:
- Build a structure for inclusive community engagement and decision making
- Ensure community self-determination in projects that impact the CID
- Create a long-term community vision and plan
The community, located on the ancestral land of the Duwamish people, continually honors its history as a home for generations of Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants and refugees while offering an affordable, healthy foundation for success and prosperity for all who call it home.
