The Lake City Collective (LCC) has recently formed to create a unified voice among the mosaic of cultures in the Lake City neighborhood to increase capacity and political agency among communities of color, immigrants and refugees. The group is working to build bridges across the diverse Lake City Community to begin to build consensus on and advocate for shared needs and goals in the many public and nonprofit planning processes that are actively seeking their input.
Community leaders Peggy Hernandez, Cesar Garcia and Tsegay Berhe, established the Lake City Collective to build the capacity of marginalized populations to address issues like economic development, affordable housing, displacement, early learning, across the ages programing, and all aspects of livability in our Community.
From the grant application: “Our work will bring forth cultural communities to self-identify leaders in the development of solutions and strategies that transform systems and policies. By bringing the voices of these individuals to the table we have a greater chance of creating an inclusive community, reducing displacement risk and addressing the many barriers to civic engagement.”
Tsegay Berhe leads HOPE Eritrean Social Services (HESS), which runs programs benefiting the Eritrean and broader Lake City and Pinehurst communities. HESS provides youth tutoring and civic engagement activities and coordinates and provides translation services.
Cesar Garcia and Peggy Hernandez are pillars of the Lake City Community and longtime residents that have worked for many years along with Community Partners on programs and cultural celebrations, advocacy and connectivity across the diverse Lake City neighborhood.
We now have a Facebook page:Facebook.com/LakeCityCollective and email: lakecitycollective@ gmail.com, said Peggy Hernandez.
The LCC is actively seeking funds from multiple sources to advance the work of building capacity and participation in planning and development that directly impacts the neighborhood in which we live. The Lake City Collective would like to ask for your support in donating to our efforts to assist with the following as part of the GiveBig campaign through the Seattle Parks Foundation
- Outreach & Recruitment
- Cross-cultural Action
- Community Building
Learn more and please GiveBig:
seattleparksfoundation.org/project/lake-city-collective/
Photos below were taken during the Mariachi Concert, December 2017, at Albert Davis Park.
