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Chinatown-International District

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With over half of its population foreign born, The International District, also known as Chinatown, is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Seattle. It also houses a large aging population. But for a diverse young population who enjoy the atmosphere of the neighborhood, there are many coffee shops, restaurants, and bars to enjoy. Chinatown-International District became the fourth neighborhood to join the Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods Initiative in the summer of 2004. Unlike in the other three neighborhoods, where community councils became the coordinating body for SUNI, the International District Housing Alliance's environmental justice project called WILD (Wilderness Innercity Leadership) became the newest partner in the Neighborhoods Initiative.


Public Art in the International District

March 2003 brought together two new partners- IDHA's WILD project and Sustainable Seattle, in part from funding from Seattle's Department of Information Technology.  WILD's Community Perspective's Project has several components that meet the objectives of the Neighborhoods Initiative- it is community focused, promotes the use of technology and data to understand community priorities and brings together diverse groups to increase civic engagement.  

Established in 1997, WILD is a youth leadership development program that operates under the framework of environmental health and justice.  Many of the youth in the WILD program are not native English speakers, but speak a number of languages and dialects.  With common language and culture, WILD youth are well suited to assist the elders on issues concerning environmental justice, and at the same time gain a better sense of identity, community, and civic responsibility.

Sustainable Seattle played an integral part in WILD's Community Perspectives Project.  In July 2004, Sustainable Seattle conducted its two-day Sustainability Workshop to teach youth about sustainable communities and why this is important to their futures.  In addition, Sustainable Seattle lent its handheld computers for the effort and provided $500 through its mini-grant program to help fund the photovoice project.  The photovoice project allowed the youth to creatively capture their view of the deficits and assets of Chinatown-International District.  This project is on-going.  For more information, please contact Joyce Pisnanont, at joyce@apialliance.org.  

Youth Interns

Through a generous grant from the City of Seattle's Department of Information Technology, we have been working with three youth interns from the IDHA's WILD program. To learn more about this partnership, click here.

Street-Level Surveys

July 29th, 2004: Initial Survey

2005 Follow Ups: Comparison of 2004 data to 2005 conditions

July 2005: Second Survey

February 2006 Survey: Third Survey

Trend Analysis: Changes from 2004 to 2006

February/March 2007: Fourth Survey

More information about the International District - Chinatown

 

 

 

 

 
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