Seattle was selected as a Champion City for UNEP’s Generation Restoration program. How do we keep it that way?
By Rebecca Bear, President and CEO
On World Cities Day (October 31st), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced 11 role model cities across the globe that are leaders in preserving and enhancing natural ecosystems. Seattle is the only city in the United States to be selected for this global honor. What does this mean? According to the UNEP, Generation Restoration Champion cities are:
“…at the front line of the socioeconomic impacts of climate change and ecosystem loss and have already taken ambitious action to protect and restore nature. They have shown that with adequate financing, planning and collaboration, restoring nature within cities is possible, and can lead to improvements in the quality of life, including mental health.”
Key to this selection is the acknowledgment that Seattle is a city that has led the way in public and private investment in ecosystem restoration and nature-based solutions to climate change. Communities around the globe will be looking to Seattle as a model city.
How can we live up to our new title?
It is exciting to be honored on the global stage for the hard work our government and community advocates do daily to ensure healthy public spaces. At Seattle Parks Foundation, we believe that it is critical to accelerate investment in our community by partnering private community funding with public investments so we can create extraordinary public spaces. This is why over the last two years we advocated for $780 Million in Metropolitan Parks District funding, brought in $3,537,645 in federal, state, county, and local investments and leveraged $2,980,392 in private and philanthropic donations to speed completion of projects throughout the region.
“Concord PTA and the South Park community are so grateful to Seattle Parks Foundation’s long term commitment to partnering with us. Their continued support has strengthened our capacity, and together we are making our school more attractive, functional and safe–our kids face so many challenges living in an Environmental Justice community, and they deserve a beautiful school.” – Robin Schwartz, Concord International Elementary School.
We know that the work to maintain the natural beauty that makes Seattle shine is ongoing, and a truly collaborative effort. It is because we advocate for and invest in People Powered Parks and Public Spaces that we are being held up as an example. Through large-scale transformational projects like Lid I-5, and smaller neighborhood projects like Cayton Corner Park or Cheasty Trails and Bike Park, we work every day to nurture the landscapes that improve our quality of life. This is only the beginning of the critical work we see ahead for the Seattle area.
At times, advancing issues like climate change means leading complex public/private collaborations. This fall we launched the Seattle Tree Canopy Network, with the intention of bringing together the many different public and private organizations focused on getting our region to 30% tree canopy coverage. This effort was only possible due to generous investments by donors who believe in early-stage funding to ensure we move tree canopy work forward for the city and region now.
Through our fiscal sponsorship program, we fund projects that show promise for transformation in our community, like the biodigester composting programs in the Chinatown International District led by Restaurant 2 Garden. Ensuring our partners are effectively supported requires Seattle Parks Foundation to cover 50% of their expenses through donations from donors who support investing in and accelerating change.
Maintaining our status as a global leader requires private sector financial support for our public space projects. As we approach the giving season, we hope you will consider a gift to Seattle Parks Foundation to ensure we can continue to foster community-centered parks projects that transform street corners, neighborhoods, communities, our region and the world.