Women In The Green Economy: Voices from Southeast Seattle Report by Mariah Scott
I attended the Got Green Meeting at South Lake High School on the day of September 24. Between January 29 and April 30, project organizer Tammy Nguyen and 35 volunteers did face-to-face surveys with 212 women of color, low income women, and immigrant women in the community. They were told to priorities the four areas of the green economy based off of what was most important in their life.
Top 2 Highlights:
1) The four areas of the green economy; Green Jobs, Green home, Public Transportation, and Access to Healthy Foods.
2) “It’s time for low income women and women of color to have their voices up front and center in the green economy movement.” – Lillie Brinker
Most Controversial Thing Heard:
1) Healthy Foods is the most important area of the green economy in low income women and women of color’s life.
Most Surprising Thing Heard:
1) Of the 212 women interviewed, 40% chose access to Healthy Foods, 23% chose Green Homes, 20% chose Green Jobs, and 17% chose Public Transportation as the #1 area of the Green Economy in their life’s.
Possibilities and/or Impacts for Rainier Beach:
1) More low income women of color have an opportunity to have their voice heard for the betterment of their community and their families.
New Things Learned:
1) At this meeting, one important thing that I learned that stood out to me was, 67% of the women interviewed said that the cost is what makes it difficult to access healthy foods. This is an important fact because in stores, bags of sugar are less money than a bag of fruit. This is an important fact because healthy foods should be less expensive because EVERYBODY should be able to access them at a lower price than unhealthy foods.