Case Study: Seattle Pilot
Background
This case study provides an overview of a comrnunity-
port collaboration pilot project conducted in Seattle over
roughly a two-year period starting in 2016. In addition to
Seattle, pilot projects were conducted in Savannah, New
Orleans, and Providence and were collectively known as
the Near-Port Community Capacity Building Project. Pilot
communities received technical assistance and utilized the
draft Community-Port Collaboration Toolkit developed as
part of the EPA Ports nitiative.
The Port of Seattle, its near-port neighbors in the Duwamish
Valley (a community that experiences environmental justice
concerns) and a local health equity non-profit (Just Health
Action) jointly applied for and were selected to participate
in the pilot project.
The Duwamish Valley community, consisting of
Seattle's Georgetown and South Park neighborhoods,
is characterized as an area with disproportionate health
impacts and environmental injustices where more effective
actions and investments are needed to address health
and economic inequities. In 2013, the Duwamish Valley
Cumulative Health Impacts Analysis, co-authored by non-
profits Just Health Action and the Duwamish River Cleanup
Coalition, concluded that a range of health exposures and
impacts disproportionately affect people in the Duwamish
Valley.
The Port of Seattle (Port) moves people and cargo across the
country and around the world. With facilities and property
ranging in scope from a half-acre park to a large airport
and container terminals, the Port of Seattle manages its
public assets with an eye toward equity and environmental
sustainabilitv.The 2011 Century Agenda commits the Port
to create opportunity for all, be a responsible environmental
steward, partner with surrounding communities, promote
social responsibility, and conduct itself transparently and
with accountability.This organizational commitment set
the tone for cultivating a strong partnership as port and
community stakeholders embarked on EPA's Community-
Port Collaboration Pilot Project.
Technical Assistance
As part of the pilot project, EPA provided technical
assistance for the Port and Duwamish Valley community.
In June 2017, EPA convened a two-day series of site visits
and needs assessment meetings to determine the type of
technical assistance both the port and community desired.
The site visits included an overview of the history of the
port and community, a bus tour of the port facilities,
and a walking tour of both Georgetown and South Park
neighborhoods, featuring speakers from the community.
The needs assessment included a facilitated discussion
between Port and community representatives about
the purpose and goals of the pilot, an overview of the
challenges confronting the community, past and current
engagement with the Port, as well as the identification of
near, medium and long-term priorities for the project.
Throughout the assessment, EPA and its contractor provided
neutral facilitation to help create safe spaces for information
exchange, learning, and partnership-building.Through
subsequent dialogues and training workshops, community
The outcomes from this process have been
transformative for the Port. VJe have been able
to apply best practices learned through this pilot
project with our engagement in other near-
port communities as well. As a result, we have
more inclusive and productive dialogue with
community stake-holders that help ensure that
our operations deliver more benefits to all our
constituents.
- Sally del Fierro, External Relations
Departmentj Director of Community
Engagementj Port of Seattle
EPA-420-F-20-025 | July 2020
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Pilot Highlight: Keys for Successful
Community Engagement to
Promote Environmental Justice
Centering equity as a governing principle throughout the project
provided fertile ground for collaborative action.The Port and its
Duwamish Valley community partners have worked together to
implement their vision for equitable development and environmental
justice in the Georgetown and South Park neighborhoods. A few
unique project features included:
Community members organized themselves into an advisory group,
the Duwamish Valley Port Community Action Team (PCAT). This community-
led team made presentations to Port Commissioners and participated with the
Port in policy negotiations and drafting of policies. PCAT activities to benefit this partnership included
helping the Port to reach out across the community, set goals and prioritize decisions.
>
The Port's pilot project team consisted of a program manager, the environmental director, an external
relations director, and one senior executive level director. Focused staff time across multiple levels of the
institution ensured broad organizational support.
Local non-profit, Just Health Action, served a vital role by entering into a contractual arrangement with
the Port to help facilitate community members' involvement in the pilot project. It was important that
the community members had similar project management resources for this purpose. Just Health Action
supported the behind-the-scenes collaboration of community representatives as they prepared for
trainings and negotiations with the Port.
Collaboration activities were not limited to pilot project participants; the project created new
opportunities to engage the community at large. Through inclusive public events and PCAT-led social
media campaigns, the project fostered a broader understanding among community residents of Port
activities and how community residents can benefit from Port operations through career pathways and
jobs, small business development, environmental health initiatives and more.
The project created opportunities for community members to civically engage with the elected
leadership of the Port. PCAT and other community members learned how to advocate for project goals
of interest to their neighborhoods by attending in-person meetings with Commissioners and presenting
formal public comments at hearings. This practice helped Duwamish Valley stakeholders take a more
active role in Port decision-making processes, resulting in positive outcomes that met both community
and Port needs.
For more information about the contracting process between the Port of Seattle and Just Health Action, contact
the Port of Seattle's Duwamish Valley Community Equity Program.
Stepping up and talking in front of the Port Commission
was one of the most nerve-racking things I have done
in my life> but what gave me the power to do so was
knowing that my communityj my familyt and the
people I care about rely on my voice to represent them.
Knowing the language barriers affecting my community,
I was able to make sure their voices were heard. Having
the Port Commissioners' attention for those whole
two minutes felt like an opportunity of change for my
community.
- Magdalena Angel Cano} PCAT Member (South Park)
V
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partners formed the Port Community Action Team (PCAT)
and used the following technical assistance resources:
Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) training for the
group to understand how CBAs work, learn about
developing CBAs, and hear lessons learned from a
grassroots community leader's experience with CBAs.
Collaborative Problem-Solving and Storytelling tra in in g
for community representatives to understand how to
work through communication style differences, build
strong relationships with Port representatives, and
develop shared understanding with the Port about
project goals.
Ports and Equitable Development training for cross-
department Port staff to learn Seattle's history of
inequitable development, how inequity undermines
the Port's mission, and see examples of ways that
various departments have implemented new best-
practices to promote equitable development.
Outcomes and Accomplishments
The Seattle pilot project resulted in several successful
outcomes:
Stimulated the development of a Duwamish Valley
PCAT trained and committed to engage with the Port in
shared decision making. The PCAT elevates the voices of
community members in Port matters that are important
to the community. Likewise, Port staff are empowered
to use PCAT feedback to ensure effective and equitable
delivery of operations, ranging from workforce
development to environmental health initiatives.
Launched a contract in which PCAT members serve as
community-based consultants and are compensated
for contributing their expertise to the project. This
equity best practice is now standard across Port
engagements with communities experiencing
environmental justice challenges.
Accomplished mutually beneficial near-term action
projects together. These were projects that the
community had been working to advance for some
time (e.g., a shoreline park improvement project that
Toolkit Spotlight: Using Tools
to Support Training in Collaborative
Problem-Solving and Equitable
Development
The Community Action Roadmap and Environmental Justice
Primer for Ports both contain Self-Assessment and related tools
that can help community and port leaders determine where they
are currently and what kinds of change they would like to see
in their relationships over the long term. Each tool is tailored to
support a specific audience in this process:
The Community Action Roadmap outlines six key steps for
communities to effectively engage in local decision-making.
The Environmental Justice Primer for Ports outlines six key
steps for effectively engaging communities in port decision-
making.
While the steps in both tools follow a set order, users are
encouraged to start with the step that best fits their needs and
circumstances. The tools recognize that timeframes for each
step will vary depending on the local context and that ports and
communities may cycle through the steps several times as they
address new issues and strengthen local partnerships. The tools
can also serve as the foundation for trainings geared toward the
needs of specific stakeholders.
In the Seattle pilot, these tools were used in framing trainings
tailored to the needs of the PCAT and the Port leadership. Based
on needs identified by the community, EPA and its contractor,
developed trainings for the community from the Community
Action Roadmap focused on Step 3 (collaborative problem-solving
skills to help build better working relationships with the port) and
Step 5 (story-teliing skills to help make the case and convey the
community's story about themselves).
The most important aspects of this process
were that all parties grew to respect everyone
else and the unique knowledge and expertise
that they brought to the table> and that
everyone was willing to keep returning to
the table no matter how hard the discussions
got. The community knew that the Port
was committed to implementing the shared
recommendationsand so we knew it was
worth the effort and time to keep the
discussions and negotiations going, even when
we couldn't see the path forward.
- Andrew Schiffer> PCAT Member
(Georgetown)
EPA Community-Port Collaboration Pilot Projects
The Port requested technical support based on Section A of the
Environmental Justice Primer for Ports: equitable development.
EPA designed this training by working with the Seattle project
partners to develop a historical timeline that illustrated the
history of local inequitable policies such as redlining (denial of
services to neighborhoods on the basis of race or ethnicity), the
banishment of native peoples, and the siting of highways and
polluting industries that led to current inequitable development
and disproportionate health outcomes in the Duwamish Valley,
Thoughtful dialogue during both the Port and community
trainings led to new insights and mutual understanding that
built capacity for deeper collaboration between Port staff and
community leaders.
Additional Educational Resources
As a result of the pilot projects, new
resources have been developed that
complement the Community-Port
Collaboration Toolkit being hosted
on EPA's Office of Transportation and
Air Quality website. Click here to
explore the new- resources!

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included Port property), as well as innovative new
collaborations between the Port and the community
(e.g., recruiting local youth into career-connected
learning internships). These easy wins benefiting both
the community and the Port demonstrated that the
new partnership could generate tangible, positive
outcomes for all stakeholders.
PCAT provided training and consultation to Port staff
on cultural competency and inclusive engagement
practices, on Port-wide issues such as:
1.	Multicultural leader engagement during the
scoping for environmental review of Sea-Tac
International Airport's Sustainable Airport Master
Plan;
2.	Hiring and recruitment for the Port's first Senior
Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion position;
3.	Marketing and communications best practices for
multicultural and multilingual audiences;
4.	Development of the Port's role in the Northwest
Ports Clean Air Strategy, a five-year commitment to
a regional clean air strategy; and
5.	Design of public event programming such as
a multilingual boat tour featuring community
speakers and Port representatives;
Port Commission adopted a motion authorizing the
creation of the Duwamish Valley Community Equity
Program (DVCEP). which grew the pilot project into a
full-fledged funded program at the Port.
Once the motion passed, Port staff and the PCAT
collaborated to co-write Resolution 3767. the
Duwamish Valley Community Benefits Commitment,
a policy directive that guides the implementation of
the DVCEP and other Port operations that impact the
Duwamish Valley community.
Resolution 3767 is a ground-breaking policy
that commits the institution to partnering with a
community to address environmental justice issues.
Through many rounds of feedback and negotiations,
the resulting document is one that both serves the Port
and the community. The policy outlines three shared
goals for the partnership:
1.	Community and Port Capacity Building for Ongoing
Collaboration
2.	Healthy Environment and Communities
3.	Economic Prosperity in Place
Lessons Learned
The pilot project resulted in the following set of insights
that could help other port and near-port community
collaborations:
Valuing community expertise as project assets set
the tone for equitable engagement. The project set the
conditions so that everyone at the table was being both
compensated for their work and well prepared for success
in the discussions (e.g., language translation, childcare,
and meals were provided). Implementing these best
practices strengthened Port and community capacity to
work together and honored the effort contributed by all
stakeholders.
The role of senior port leadership and their buy-in was
crucial to success. The Port Commission and a committed
member of the senior executive leadership team supported
Port dialogue with the community early on. The continued
engagement by these key officials ensured the pilot project
aligned with the Port mission and were justifiable by its
legal authorities.
Establishing relationships within a "core team" of
leaders can help overcome "bumps in the road." Port staff
and representatives from both neighborhoods participated
in an EPA-hosted introductory meeting and established
shared principles that would govern their interactions with
each other throughout the project. This early dialogue
set up ground rules for communication and conflict
resolution that proved useful when significant challenges or
differences in perspective threatened the project.
Equitable development training for port staff can
facilitate new understandings. The training efforts helped
create the kind of institutional and cultural change the
Port was seeking. It allowed individual project managers to
understand concepts related to equity and environmental
justice, acknowledge the history of institutional racism and
inequitable land use decisions in Seattle, and identify how
staff can advance equitable development going forward.
Commitment to implementation at the outset is key.
Knowing that implementation of shared recommendations
is a foregone conclusion helps keep everyone at the table as
those recommendations are being debated and developed.
Next Steps
Looking ahead, project partners are committed to
continuing to invest in improving collaboration between
the Port and near-port communities:
•	The Port and PCAT will continue working together
to achieve goals set forth in Resolution 3767, the
Duwamish Valley Community Benefits Commitment.
•	The Port and PCAT continue promoting their model
for collaboration in multiple regional and international
spaces, including as a finalist for the International
Association of Ports and Harbor's World Sustainability
Awards in 2020.
For more information about the Seattle Pilot, contact:
Karl Pepple
EPA Region 10
(206) 553-1778
pepple.karl@epa.aov
EPA Community-Port Collaboration Pilot Projects
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