
Black-led organizations and businesses to support this month and every month
This Black History Month, we are using our platform to highlight Black-led organizations and businesses and also share some of ECOSS’ partnerships! We hope you will join us in supporting or giving to these organizations. At ECOSS, we proudly center the voices of immigrants and refugee communities and recognize that dismantling systems of racism is a prerequisite for environmental justice.
ECOSS Community Partners
HOAS offers multi-lingual and multicultural services that can help its target low-income East African immigrants and refugees attain immediate and long-term adjustment through Social work, Community capacity-building education, and advocacy.
Somali Family Safety Task Force empowers immigrant and refugee women and their families by providing culturally appropriate services that embody the core values of their community.
Somali Health Board — “We are Somali health professionals and volunteers concerned about the health disparities that disproportionately affect new immigrants and refugees within King County, with ambitious goals of eliminating and reducing health disparities.”
ECOSS also partnered with Golden Brick Events, Living Well Kent, and Y-WE, to host a series of roundtables to discuss racial equity and outdoors access.
Golden Bricks Events — “Our mission is simple: we want to create memorable experiences while keeping justice in mind through thorough planning and exceptional partnerships. Our outdoor-focused experiences for Black, Indigenous, People of Color are designed for emotional & physical safety, accessibility, connection, joy, and belonging. We envision a world where BIPOC outdoor participation is not “unbelievable”, but common. We want to diversify the faces of the outdoors and conservation through our events. With examples like the March on Washington and Woodstock, we’ve seen how events can have a monumental impact in the world. We want to champion that change with our offerings at GBE.”
Living Well Kent‘s mission is to provide public spaces and initiatives that encourage healthier lifestyles and better living.
Y-WE is a collaborative organization that strives for justice and liberation. Their programming supports young people from all backgrounds – centering BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ youth who often experience society’s greatest inequities. Y-WE is a safe place to be as we learn, grow, and thrive in community. In their work towards a more equitable world, they provide an environment for young women to find their voice, and therefore – their power.
More organizations and businesses to follow and support
Lavender Rights Project is creating a world in which the Black and Indigenous gender-diverse communities are at the forefront of liberation and recognized for our power to build. Representation matters and we are an organization led by Black trans women and femmes. By following their wisdom and nuanced understanding of community needs, we will build decolonized systems of care and support for our people.
Intersectional Environmentalist — “We hope to empower + instill joy in people of color and historically excluded communities by amplifying the incredible legacies of diverse people in the environmental space throughout history and in the present – because we believe with representation, and an understanding that they have always been part of environmental history, we’ll empower a new generation of environmentalists and reshape the future of environmentalism to one that is rooted in equity and inclusion. We seek to bridge the understanding gap and provide accessible educational resources for those who want to learn and guidance and direction for organizations looking to shift their narrative. We are also movement connectors, leading people to initiatives and organizations they can support in their local community.”
Black Girl Environmentalist is a supportive community dedicated to empowering Black girls, women and non-binary people across environmental disciplines.
RainierAvenueRadio.World is YOUR South Seattle Community Radio Station and Digital Media Hub dedicated to amplifying the diverse voices of our community.
Converge Media — “Content and local news specifically for the Northwest’s Black community. We believe that the Black community deserves authentic representation, a focus on our community’s issues, and equitable access to elected officials, leadership, and governmental information.”
Black Coffee Northwest is a place where people meet, cultivate relationships, and develop new ideas. It’s a place for people to step back from the daily hustle and enjoy an exceptional beverage.
Black Farmers Collective — “Our mission is to build a Black-led food system by developing a cooperative network of food system actors, acquiring and stewarding land, facilitating food system education, and creating space for Black liberation in healing and joy. We envision Black liberation through food sovereignty, in spaces built on cooperation and interconnectedness with the environment and the community, where our knowledge and creativity are boundless.”
“The Station is a representation of the commitment of our owners, staff and customers to continue having a visible stronghold in Beacon Hill, a community that has served us for decades- in a vast city that is rapidly changing. We have always been more than just a coffee house and wine bar. We are home to artists of all disciplines, youth workers and advocates, elders and children, up-and-coming and seasoned activists—You too, can call The Station, home.”
Shikorina Pastries was founded by Hana Yohannes in 2020. Hana has always been passionate about pastry making— seeing the joy her pastries spark in others is what drove her to start this business. While Hana has always loved pastry making, it wasn’t until she participated in the Pastry Project, a program dedicated to providing pastry education to those experiencing barriers to the pastry industry, that she gained the experience to start her business. For this reason among many others, Shikorina Pastries is committed to sending the elevator back down and providing learning opportunities for others like the Pastry Project did for her.
ECOSS works with immigrant and refugee communities to deliver environmental resources, opportunities, and language support to bridge the language barrier faced by many of our community members. A majority of our work takes place in South Seattle, an area that has experienced gentrification and displacement of many BIPOC community members, specifically members of the African American community. ECOSS acknowledges that while it works with African immigrants it has not worked closely with African American community members, and wants to make sure that the focus and historic impact of gentrification is one shared and understood by those we work with and around. We would like to bring focus to the history of this area and the greater Seattle area and take this as an opportunity to both learn and educate our community members about the history of the neighborhoods they live or work in.
Here is a starting point to learn about the history of Seattle neighborhoods: Seattle Neighborhoods — Past, Present, Future – HistoryLink.org