GROUNDSWELL NW APRIL 2021 NEWS

Greetings!

We here at Groundswell NW hope you are enjoying spring so far and are excited to relaunch our monthly newsletter with a greater emphasis on honoring and celebrating the wonderful people, natural resources, and history of our community.  What better time for us to do so than the month of April, in which we celebrate both Earth Day and Arbor Day! 

One thing we have been so grateful for when dealing with the trials of the past year is the beauty of our precious outdoor spaces.  We hope to continue supporting our neighbors’ creative initiatives to activate and care for green space across northwest Seattle for years to come. Please consider making a donation to our GiveBIG campaign today through May 5, 2021 and thank you for everything you already do to steward the natural beauty in our community.

With gratitude,

The Groundswell NW Board

SPOTLIGHT ON ALICE BALL PARK

Groundswell NW is excited to announce the latest recipient of a Groundswell NW microgrant: Friends of Alice Ball Park! Located near the Greenwood Library, the park opened in June 2019. Once known as Library Park, a local third grader campaigned for the name Alice Ball Park after Seattle born chemist Alice Ball. Both Black History Month and Women’s History Month deserve so much more time and attention than a single month out of every calendar year, so we’d like to take this opportunity to share what we have recently learned about the legacy of this amazing Black woman with our readers who may not already know her incredible story.

Alice Ball was born in Seattle in 1892, graduated from the University of Washington in 1915, and became the first woman—and African American—to earn a Master’s degree from the University of Hawaii. She developed an injectable oil extract that was the most effective treatment for leprosy until the 1940s.  Unfortunately, she died at age 24.* We encourage you to learn even more about Alice Ball in this article from KNKX. 
 

Friends of Alice Ball Park plan to use their microgrant funds for seating, pollinator plants, and additions to the nature trail area. We hope you’ll visit this park and enjoy the results of our neighbors’ great work!

Do you also have an idea for an improvement in your neighborhood? Check out our easy microgrant application today!

 *Source: https://www.phinneycenter.org/more-green-in-greenwood

SALMON BAY NATURAL AREA WORK PARTY

Come out and join the Salmon Bay Natural Area work party from 3:00 – 5:00 pm on April 25. Groundswell NW has created an online sign-up for small groups (1-2 households and no more than 15 people) to help clean up.  We’ll be meeting up at the west end of The Canal parking lot, just south of NW 54th St. at 34th Ave NW. Let us know via the sign-up link if you will be participating!

For those who want to take part in the Salmon Bay Natural Area event, please bring your own water, work gloves plus wheelbarrows and favorite weeding or litter-picking tools, if you have them. We will provide safety vests and garbage bags, plus some gloves and tools. We will not be providing refreshments due to Covid-19 precautions.

If we have enough volunteers, some of you may be asked to pick up litter on adjacent stretches of our adopted streets that haven't been cleaned up!

Contact Dave Boyd for more info. 

SIGN UP HERE

EDUCATORS:  APPLY FOR A MICROGRANT TODAY!

Hello, Northwest Seattle School Teachers!

Groundswell NW, a small non-profit organization based in NW Seattle, is announcing our 2021 microgrant program.  Thanks to generous donations, Groundswell NW will be awarding up to $500 each to support educational groups and classes that are starting projects which support Groundswell NW’s mission – creating community, parks, and habitat.  Proposals for a new project in NW Seattle are preferred.  

 
The simple application is found HERE and we anticipate awarding monies immediately.  Funded projects would need to be started before the end of this academic year, but completion dates are flexible.  We accept proposals year-round and review upon receipt.   Please feel free to forward this invitation to teachers who might be doing something related to our mission.

For questions contact us at info@groundswell.org.

THE GROUNDSWELL NW BOARD IS GROWING!

Groundswell NW is actively looking for more board members. Are you passionate about parks, open space and habitat? Do you want to help Groundswell further their mission? We want you! Contact us here for more info!

GROUNDSWELL NW MARCH 2021 NEWS

Attention: Ballard High School Science Teachers!

We have launched our 2021 microgrant program with a special focus on education.  Thanks to the generosity of donors, Groundswell NW will be awarding up to $500 each to support educational groups and classes that are starting projects that support Groundswell NW’s mission – creating community, parks, and habitat.  Proposals for a new project in NW Seattle are preferred.  

The simple application is found at www.GroundswellNW.org/microgrants.  We anticipate awarding monies by March 15.  Funded projects would need to be started before the end of this academic year, but completion dates are flexible.  

Please feel free to forward this invitation to other teachers who might be doing something related to our mission – particularly those in the social science area.

The Sustainable Ballard DEI Taskforce needs you!

Sustainable Ballard is forming a DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) Taskforce to identify ways that we can incorporate more BIPOC supports and ally activities into the organization. We expect this group to meet monthly over Zoom and would love some more members!
Some ideas that have been proposed for this group to address are:

• Research BLM organizations and determine which ones to support and back: Black Lives Matter Seattle King County, WA BLM Alliance, King County Equity Now

• Look internally to see if there are ways to better welcome Black Ballardites into the organization and leadership

• Review Sustainable Ballard’s By-Laws for discriminatory language and policies and propose changes and new pro-active inclusion language.

• Post more social media articles supporting local efforts and speak out against instances of local racism.

• Consider if there are ways to integrate racial justice into existing Sustainable Ballard projects and/or to create policies for new projects that account for this.

• Identify advocacy that we can promote to Ballard neighbors. Create Community Bulletin Board for things to be aware of?

We have information from the NEO Law Group available at http://nonprofitlawblog.com/governance-documents-diversity-equity-inclusion-nonprofits/ that will be helpful, but first we have a lot of listening to do!

If you are interested in being part of this Taskforce, please reply to jodytgrage@gmail.com and she will set up an email list and get out a Doodle poll for our first call.

If you’d like to meet in person – masked and social distanced, of course – or by phone, Jody is available and would love to hear your thoughts and ideas about this project.  Her time is quite flexible so please let her know where and when in the next couple weeks would work best for you. 

Happy New Year!

The pandemic has demonstrated how vital parks and open space are to the mental and physical health of our community - and the importance of organizations like Groundswell NW that work to create and protect such spaces. Groundswell NW has had a year like none other - just like everyone else. Our year started with a celebration at the Phinney Neighborhood Center during which we elected our current officers, we presented our Local Hero awards and we donated $5000 to Save the Ballard P Patch. Groundswell NW congratulates the Ballard P Patch on their progress on ensuring that the Gnome will have a permanent home at the current location.

We thought we would be out at community events all summer but instead we spent time working on files and other important things that tend to be put off when outside activities beckon. We continue to advocate for the maximum amount of public access to the area around the Ballard pump station.

As we start 2021, look for updates to our website including our list of new officers and tour descriptions for our NW parks. We would really like to see more community members applying for our Seed Money (small grants up to $500) for projects that support Groundswell NW’s mission - creating parks, open space and habitat. We will increase awareness of those grants this year. We also will look for ways to support activities in a safe and appropriately distanced manner.

The board of Groundswell NW wishes you a healthy, happy, and active new year.

GROUNDSWELL NW NEWS

Here are some events we thought would be of interest to Groundswell members and followers this month.

GROUNDSWELL NW 2020 OCTOBER NEWS

Following the celebration of Groundswell NW founder Lillian Riley's 90th birthday, this past summer, we received a very generous anonymous donation of $5,000. No specific project was earmarked, so the Groundswell NW Board of Directors will be evaluating how to apply this donation in the coming months. Many thanks to the donor, and to all the volunteers who help carry on Lillian's legacy!

Salmon Bay Park Playground Renovation- Survey

Seattle Parks & Rec has started gathering community input on the upcoming Salmon Bay Park playground renovation. Construction is slated to start late 2021-2022. You can learn more about the project and fill out the survey here.