Our Mission

We build inter-generational, inter-cultural, community-based organizing for neighborhood resilience and collective power.

Our Principles

1. Justice and Equity

“We’re gonna preserve our neighborhood for the people who built it. Growth should come from within. We’re the ones who should dictate that growth.” – Uncle Bob Santos

  • Housing as a human right. Development without displacement. Fair and equal access to resources and opportunities. Services and safety, not sweeps.

  • Right to self-determination, community control, and collective ownership to build vibrant, safe, healthy, and equitable neighborhoods for both housed and unhoused neighbors.

  • Combating patriarchy, capitalism, racism and anti-Blackness, classism, ageism, transphobia and homophobia, ableism, imperialism, environmental racism, and organizing across these and other oppressive systems.

  • Abolish prisons, police, and ICE. Defund SPD. Reject surveillance in all forms. We keep us safe. Create safety solutions for all.

  • Mutual aid and community care. Support neighborhood grassroots groups.

  • Grounded in our cultural roots, celebrate, learn from, and hold ourselves accountable to legacies of resistance and resilience – including that of Coast Salish indigenous peoples.

2. Collective Participation

“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors—we borrow it from our children.” – Chief Seattle/siʔaɫ

  • Power in organizing as an intergenerational community and collaborating with elders and youth.

  • Prioritize, empower and develop sustainable horizontal leadership and following the lead of  most impacted and marginalized leadership.

  • Community-based solutions in partnership and collaboration.

  • Shared responsibility in establishing and maintaining accountability and integrity of the CID Coalition.

  • Queer, women, and nonbinary led.

  • Accessibility, including language and cultural competency.

3. Accountable Love Ethic and Creative Empowerment

“Serve community with patience, grace and love.”  – bell hooks

  • Trust built on relationships and genuine connections.

  • Practice compassion and social generosity: strive towards reconciliation, no disposability, assume good intentions, respect diverse perspectives.

  • Practice direct communication and welcome conflict.

  • Practice self care and community care. Center joy.

  • Anything is possible. Allow for experimentation, imagination, and innovation.

  • Empowerment through art, creativity, and cultural sharing.

  • Invest in creative, accountable solutions. Create space for visioning for the future of the neighborhood.

Other sources of inspiration:

http://www.pisab.org/our-principles#networking
http://gotgreenseattle.org/home/who-we-are/#missionvalues
https://www.dsni.org/dsni-historic-timeline/