PLATINUM2023

I Heart Downtown Seattle

An action-based movement dedicated to making Seattle beautiful and safe for all

aka We Heart Seattle   |   Seattle, WA   |  https://weheartseattle.org/

Mission

We Heart Seattle is an action-based, boots-on-the-ground movement that organizes trash cleanups in our public spaces and offers a helping hand to those in need.  Through our direct civic engagement we lead the way to a more compassionate and healthy community. To meet these goals, we: *Organize regular volunteer trash cleanups in public spaces *Offer individualized assistance to those in need  *Create a sense of community in real civic engagement w/ people who don't expect someone else to help neighbors in need *Utilize all available safe housing, shelters, & treatment facilities for anyone who is ready *House our neighbors quickly *Clean up litter &eradicate graffiti *Develop great partnerships with like-minded stakeholders *Work cooperatively with city and county employees and leaders

Ruling year info

2021

Founder and Executive Director

Andrea Suarez

President

Kevin Dahlgren

Main address

2324 1st Ave Apt 503

Seattle, WA 98121 USA

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EIN

85-3654192

NTEE code info

Community, Neighborhood Development, Improvement (S20)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990-N.

Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

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Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Seattle Litter Pick Events

Activities are led by volunteers, and several contract service providers with lived experience:
*Organize regular volunteer trash cleanups in public spaces
*Create a sense of community by welcoming everyone to be involved in real civic engagement
*Build a network of people who no longer walk by neighbors in need and areas needing repair while expecting someone else to help
*Clean up litter and eradicate graffiti
*Develop great partnerships with like-minded stakeholders
*Work cooperatively with city and county employees and leaders

Population(s) Served
Homeless people
Adults

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Total pounds of debris collected

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Seattle Litter Pick Events

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

2022: held 101 debris cleanup events 2021: held 108 debris cleanup events 2020: held 13 debris cleanup events

Number of people no longer living in unsafe or substandard housing as a result of the nonprofit's efforts

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Homeless people, Ex-offenders, Victims of crime and abuse, Substance abusers

Related Program

Seattle Litter Pick Events

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Decreasing

Number of community events or trainings held and attendance

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Seattle Litter Pick Events

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

Volunteers meet to clean debris in difficult terrain, such as ravines and homeless encampments. Average participation: 12-20 community volunteers & 2 paid staff with homeless living experience.

Total number of volunteer hours contributed to the organization

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Seattle Litter Pick Events

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

Community volunteer hours spent cleaning debris in difficult terrain. This activity builds layperson awareness and empathy for people in homeless encampments. Figure excludes Board volunteer hours.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

The challenges surrounding Seattle’s urban spaces is well documented, as is the homelessness crisis that results in thousands of people living outdoors, while rendering community spaces unusable for their intended purposes. To address this, We Heart Seattle (WHS) – an action-based, boots-on-the-ground organization – mobilizes hundreds of volunteers for debris cleanups in public spaces and offers resources to the unhoused neighbors we meet along the way.

This unique form of community harm reduction is typically located in difficult-to-access yet highly valuable public spaces that city workers cannot or will not access for several reasons.

WHS achieves dramatic outcomes when measured as a whole, yet these outcomes are achieved by restoring individual public spaces and focusing outreach support to individual people living in those public spaces. Each urban environment or greenspace we restore builds upon the next; each person we assist in moving from homelessness to safe & humane indoor living makes the citizenry stronger.

WHS measures its impact in the following ways:

• Number of debris cleanup events held, tallied by site, zip code and date
• Pounds of debris removed at each debris removal event
• Number of volunteers and volunteer hours contributed to each debris cleanup event
• Number of teams and individuals fulfilling their community service hours with WHS
• Number of people assisted out of dangerous, inhumane situations into safer living conditions inside
• Number of in-depth outreach client engagements, as measured by stipends provided
• Number of people with recent homelessness experience WHS brings on staff (providing meaningful work and compensated with fair wages)

The WHS program involves the following main components, and most of these activities occur somewhat in parallel with cleaning and maintaining a specific park, playground, greenspace, alley, sidewalk, vacant lot, or commercial zone.

Strategy 1: Debris Cleanup & Waste Management as Harm Reduction:
After assessing a degraded public space recommended by community members, a debris cleanup event is scheduled; large numbers of volunteers work 2-4 hours to bag thousands of pounds of waste; WHS rents a truck to haul the debris and hazardous waste to the transfer station, else WHS moves the bagged waste to a location where Seattle Public Utilities can collect them. Some sites are so large and degraded they require 2, 5, or even 8 major debris cleanup events to restore the site. A site steward volunteer is established.

Strategy 2: Outreach and Housing Pathway Activities:
Outreach teams start removing debris from encampments, approximately 25% of the people living there pitch in to help us clean the space they inhabit. In appreciation for their volunteer labor, WHS offers a basic needs stipend in the form of a gift card. We return daily. The Outreach Team continually offers resources that might remove barriers. This includes finding resources to fulfill basic needs like getting a paying job or accessing benefits to establish income. Case Management services are often held in local cafes and restaurants, enabling the client to feel relaxed in a clean, quiet, professional setting. Other common locations are business and government offices while enrolling for benefits, employment, or housing. Transportation is provided. If the client decides they’re ready to move off the streets, we assist them - including in some cases referring people to treatment service providers, employment agencies, transportation, and various housing providers.

Strategy 3: Common Barriers WHS Outreach Team helps people overcome:
We help people get employment through contracted labor arrangements with UpLift Northwest (upliftnw.org, FKA The Millionair Club). We help people establish sobriety to qualify for housing by referring them find a treatment provider who can accomplish this, often on the same day they request it. We provide transportation to wherever they need to go to remove barriers and move into housing.

Financials

I Heart Downtown Seattle

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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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I Heart Downtown Seattle

Board of directors
as of 03/17/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Kevin Dahlgren

I Heart Downtown Seattle

Term: 2020 - 2024

Andrea Suarez

I Heart Downtown Seattle

Rebecca Laszlo

I Heart Downtown Seattle

Lisa Zerda

I Heart Downtown Seattle

Beth Bunnell

I Heart Downtown Seattle

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 8/22/2022

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

The organization's co-leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Male, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

No data

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

Disability

No data