About Neighborhoods

Community Building Division

Through its various programs, the Community Building Division provides a range of resources to help Seattle residents and neighbors build strong communities and improve their community's quality of life. By working together through the Neighborhood Matching Fund, P-Patch Community Gardens, Involving All Neighbors or their local community organization, neighbors in Seattle have created a stronger sense of place and built stronger ties with their local government.

To learn more about the programs offered by the Community Building Division, please visit these pages on our Web site:

Involving All Neighbors : This program promotes neighborhood involvement by those who have traditionally been marginalized. This program brings residents with developmental disabilities more fully into the community life of their neighborhood.

Major Institutions and Neighborhood Project Management: The Department of Neighborhoods provides staffing for the volunteer Citizen Advisory Committees that review and comment on the City's 13 Major Institutions' draft master plans. In addition, the Department provides project management to a wide range of complex projects which further the goals and implement the Neighborhood Plans.

Neighborhood Matching Fund : The NMF is a resource to neighbors who build a stronger community by working together to realize a vision for their neighborhoods. Residents applying for Matching Funds promise to match the award with their own contribution of cash, volunteer labor, or donated goods and services.

Neighborhood Plan Implementation : Neighborhood Plans are resident-designed blueprints for each of the planning areas futures as outlined in the early 1990's. The Department ensures plan progress over their 20 year implementation period working closely with other City departments.

Neighborhood District Coordinators : Each of the City's 13 Neighborhood Service Centers has a Neighborhood District Coordinator who facilitates and links neighborhood communities with downtown City government. The Coordinators work with more than 300 neighborhood organizations on a range of projects and issues.

P-Patch Community Gardens : The P-Patch program reaches out to communities to help develop community gardens that provide both food and flowers, as well as community building, for that community. Cultivating Communities, within the P-Patch program, reaches out to low-income immigrant communities and youth to provide a range of gardening opportunities.