At U District Let’s Go, one of our top priorities is continuing community engagement and outreach work in the U District. The best part about community engagement for our program is that we get to work with our community partners in lots of different ways. One way we have been reaching out to more folks is through business outreach and providing our businesses with a magnet we created that has safety resources listed. We hope this exciting resource will be helpful for folks in the neighborhood! If you are interested in getting a magnet, send an email to udletsgo@udistrictpartnership.org, and we will get you set up with one.

(Above is a picture of our magnets! Make sure you reach out to get one for your home or business).

 

Recently Laura Lee Sturm, Outreach Manager of U District Let’s Go!, went out on the Ave with Lois Ko, owner of Sweet Alchemy in the U District. The two canvassed businesses on the 43rd block of University Ave handing out magnets and speaking with owners, managers, and employees about their transportation needs and concerns. It was a great way to engage new businesses on the Ave and help them feel welcomed to the neighborhood!

 

We were also a proud partner of the 26th Annual Community Cleanup! The U District partnership has hosted this event for 26 years, and it was such a joy to be a part of. Folks from all across the community came together to pick up trash in different areas of the U District. If they found some exceptional trash, they could also bring it back for their chance to present it to our esteemed Judges and try to win one of our incredible gifts from other community partners! The categories this year were: Best Mother’s Day Gift, Most Romantic, Most Fashionable, Best Lawn Ornament, and Best Back Story. The prizes included gift cards from Sweet Alchemy, Jet City Improv, Morsel, the University Bookstore, and Schultzy’s! Talk about an incredible spread!!

 

Marcus Johnson, Clean and Safe Program Manager at the U District Partnership, has been planning the Annual Community Cleanup for four years now. We took a minute to ask him about his favorite parts of the cleanup. Johnson stated that he loves “seeing people come together and take ownership of their neighborhood and helping to get it ready for the summer. It’s always fun to see people work together and have fun doing it, especially with the trash contest!” He also mentioned next year he would love to work to get more UW students engaged. “This is a great opportunity to get students involved where they can participate in making their neighborhood beautiful.” We couldn’t agree more, Marcus!

 

A huge thank you to the University Heights Center as well for helping to plan the event and for hosting our launch pad for all of the cleaning crews. Another big thanks goes out to our incredible judges who came out and awarded prizes to our volunteers: Councilmember Abel Pacheco, Maureen Ewing from the University Heights Center, Mark Crawford from the U District Partnership, Karen Ko, and Kate Barr from Scarecrow Video. And OF COURSE a HUGE thank you to all of the incredible volunteers who spent their Saturday morning cleaning up the U District! Thanks for all you do!

(Check out this incredible group of volunteers who helped out with our 26th Annual Community Cleanup!)

 

U District Let’s Go’s community engagement doesn’t stop here. We are working with Transportation Choices Coalition to host a Transit Talk at the University Heights Center on June 20th. We are looking forward to having a conversation with the community around Transit Safety and Equity – Check out our event link and join us!