DNDA awarded $100,000 from WA Women’s Foundation!!
The Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA) is proud to be the recipient of a $100,000 award from the Washington Women’s Foundation, honoring DNDA’s exceptional work in the area of Arts and Culture.
DNDA’s David Bestock, Domenica Lovaglia, and Anita Chakravarti Hale received the award from WWF members and sponsors. Photo credit: Naomi Ishisaka.
The grant award will support work at DNDA’s Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, a fixture in Seattle’s arts and cultural scene, where DNDA is looking to make needed building upgrades and improvements over the next couple of years. The Youngstown Cultural Arts Center fosters groundbreaking race and social justice work, with a legacy as a safe space that welcomes and engages historically underserved populations.
DNDA was among five 2019 awardees, each in a different category of programmatic focus, from an overall applicant pool of 368 organizations. Fellow awardees include Unloop (Education), Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition (Environment), Cierra Sisters (Health), and Chief Seattle Club (Human Services).
“We are fortunate to have the philanthropic powerhouse that is Washington Women’s Foundation in our region. I am pleased to see DNDA win this prestigious honor. King County Parks and our Best Starts for Kids initiative are just two of the ways King County and DNDA work together. As a life-long West Seattleite and former DNDA board member, I know what a positive force DNDA has been in the Delridge neighborhood and beyond.”
– King County Executive Dow Constantine
DNDA integrates Art, Nature, and Neighborhood to build and sustain a dynamic Delridge. Founded in 1996, with a focus on affordable housing, DNDA’s home is the Delridge corridor of SW Seattle, an area rich in cultural diversity. People from throughout the Seattle-metro area come to see artwork, community theater performances, and participate in classes and programs at DNDA’s Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Youngstown is home to DNDA’s Arts programs, and other endeavors, focused on serving youth and specifically youth of color, with upwards of 45,000 visitors each year. In addition to programming at Youngstown, DNDA’s work includes supporting families at their 7 affordable housing properties, environmental restoration at 11 West Seattle parks including their innovative Delridge Wetland Park, and restorative justice work at two local, alternative public school campuses.
DNDA staff and board members pose with our new friend, Giant Foam Check
The Washington Women’s Foundation was founded in 1995, with a vision to change the course of women’s philanthropy through the power of collective giving. In the 24 years since the Foundation’s inception, their members have influenced transformation in communities across Washington State by collectively granting over $17 million. They continue actively evolving their philanthropic model to be more responsive, adaptable, and inclusive in their grant making.
“Since our founding, the collective membership of WA Women’s Foundation has granted millions of dollars to nonprofit organizations across Washington State. In spite of these investments, we continue to see growing economic inequality as well as increasing disparities in educational outcomes, access to health care, environmental impacts, and creative and cultural expression. For this reason, this year, WA Women’s Foundation refocused our grantmaking criteria to help us find, and fund, organizations like DNDA that are devoted to social and racial justice. It is a privilege to partner in the refurbishment of Youngstown, a critically important community institution.”
– Beth McCaw, President & CEO, WA Women’s Foundation
DNDA is deeply honored to be among the most recent grant awardees, and looks forward to partnership with the Foundation, the other awardees, and the community, to continue fostering meaningful change for the benefit of our region.