A healthy community needs more than housing that people can afford. DNDA has assisted a number of groups from all parts of Delridge to build community and get things done. DNDA also plays a leadership role in bringing community facilities to Delridge to engage our young people, improve our natural environment by stewarding the Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail and bring us together.

Snack time at Croft Place Townhomes, Longfellow Creek volunteer restoration work party, and Volunteer Jay Mirro making tiles for Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail

Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail
The Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail is a community-based effort to plan and build a four-mile continuous trail from Yancy Street in the north to Roxhill Park in the south. This trail offers opportunities for recreation, environmental education, and transportation alternatives, and is creating tremendous community pride. A Steering Committee made up of Delridge neighbors received a City of Seattle grant in 2001 to create the Legacy Trail master plan, and to integrate already existing and planned sections of trail into the plan. Significant portions of the trail including p-patch gardens, a sensory garden, outdoor classrooms, bridges and creek access have been built with tons of volunteer effort! Visit the website to find out about volunteer opportunities in restoring Longfellow Creek and the surrounding greenspace, including our three work parties a month - www.longfellowcreek.org.

Fiscal Agency Program
DNDA created its fiscal agency program to help neighborhood groups that either don't have the systems in place or capacity to manage project funds or do not have non-profit status and therefore need a non-profit fiscal sponsor to qualify for certain types of grant funding. Since 1997, DNDA has served as a fiscal agent on a wide variety of neighborhood projects including playgrounds, wetland restoration, a Latino summer camp, an organic market garden, and community organizing projects. The budgets for these projects have ranged from several hundred dollars to well over $100,000.

Brandon Court
The Delridge Neighborhood Plan, adopted by the City in 1999, envisioned places in the community where businesses would be friendly to pedestrians and would serve community residents - unlike the four gas stations there were under construction along Delridge Way at the time! Brandon Court was DNDA's first building project and included 17 townhouse condominiums for sale to first time homebuyers on top of 4,500 square feet of commercial space. DNDA's office and the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center occupy the building's ground floor. A local Delridge artist made salmon tiles which were installed into the exterior walls of the building.

Delridge Library/Vivian McLean Place
Before 2002, the Delridge community did not have a library. But the community talked the Seattle Public Library into adding a new Delridge Branch to their capital plan. DNDA secured the land and designed a building that would meet the library's needs while including 19 apartments for low income families on top. The Seattle Public Library Board couldn't resist and in the summer of 2002, DNDA completed the construction of the Delridge Library/Vivian McLean Place named for one of DNDA's founders and 50-year Delridge activist. Averaging a thousand visitors each day, the Delridge Library is a tremendous place with a community room, internet access on numerous computers, CDs, DVDs and, oh yea, lots of books.

Historic Cooper Cultural Arts Center
Built in 1917, the Old Cooper School was boarded up in 1989 when the Seattle School District no longer had a use for the building. During the Delridge Neighborhood Planning process, the community envisioned the building coming alive with arts and culture. After 16 dormant years, the building is undergoing an historic renovation to preserve its character with 36 live/work studios for low income artists and an 18,000 square foot Arts and Cultural Center focusing on young people and the many cultures of Delridge. Several non-profit partners will provide free arts education opportunities in the building's classrooms, dance studio and 150 seat performance theater.

Youth Development Program
DNDA's Youth Development Program is a year long program that is open to all residents of DNDA housing who have school age children. The goal of the Youth Development Program is to end the cycle of poverty by providing a holistic curriculum and learning activities that foster creative expression through movement and art, build self-confidence, create community, enhance appreciation for the natural environment and develop life skills. The program is designed to provide academic support, build character and self esteem, and identify enrichment and service learning opportunities. Participants are exposed to a variety of experiences that help them succeed in school, build leadership skills and 'chip' into their future pursuits.

West Seattle Food Bank & Community Resource Center
The new West Seattle Food Bank & Community Resource Center will offer hope along with resources to build self-esteem and personal security, while reconnecting families to support networks. As the hub of a community of social services, the Food Bank and its partners will encourage and assist clients as they take an active role in their journey towards empowerment and self-sufficiency.