Budget proposals would fund new DON advisory structures, neighborhood building repairs and a $5M community reinvestment jump‑start fund
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Summary
Committee considered Department of Neighborhoods items including a study to create a Black Advisory Council, inventory and condition assessment of historic Black sites, $2.6M for Highland Park Improvement Club reconstruction, $50,000 for the Renters Commission and a proposed $5M grant program to focus investments addressing historic harms.
Committee members reviewed a package of Department of Neighborhoods (DON) proposals aimed at expanding advisory structures and supporting neighborhood‑scale cultural and infrastructure investments.
Councilmember Hollingsworth sponsored a statement of legislative intent asking DON to study creation of a Black Advisory Council to provide community input and recommendations on city policies; the study would include purpose, membership, appointment, compensation and staffing and draw lessons from the Indigenous Advisory Council established in 2021. Hollingsworth said the advisory council would ‘‘give leaders a seat at the table’’ and suggested DON consult community groups during development.
Another DON item (DON 4 SA1) asked DON to assemble an inventory of historically Black and African American buildings and cultural places and to include a physical‑condition assessment and recommended repairs by June 1, 2026. Sponsors noted DON and outside groups (for example, Black Washington Heritage organizations) already have material to accelerate the inventory.
On capital and grant items, Councilmember Osaka and cosponsors proposed adding $2,600,000 to DON’s Neighborhood Matching Fund for construction and renovation of community buildings — specifically citing the Highland Park Improvement Club (HPIC), a volunteer‑run community center destroyed by fire and important to a diverse, working‑class neighborhood. Councilmember Juarez requested $50,000 to support the Seattle Renters Commission in creating a strategic work plan and expanding its capacity to advise city policy.
A high‑profile net budget proposal (DON 8a) would transfer $5,000,000 jump‑start funding from the Office of Housing to DON to seed a community reinvestment grants program focused on culture, community and commerce tied to reparative investments for descendants of enslaved people. Sponsors stressed the proposal would commence after the Office of Civil Rights completes its reparations study and OPCD completes a coordinated proposal; they also acknowledged moving $5M would reduce Office of Housing’s jump‑start capacity and asked colleagues to weigh tradeoffs.
Committee members cosponsored many of the DON items and asked for clarifications about program timing and departmental capacity to administer a new reinvestment program.
