A King County initiative that moved people out of homeless shelters and into hotel rooms earlier this year helped slow the transmission of coronavirus, according to from a of the intervention.

The intervention also produced other benefits to the people who were relocated, say authors of the joint study from King County Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) and the 天美影视传媒. Individuals who moved to area hotels 鈥� an arrangement managed by the County and social service providers 鈥� reported improved physical and mental health, and the ability to focus on long-term goals such as obtaining housing, employment and education, rather than simply focusing on day-to-day survival.

鈥淢oving people from large shelters to individual hotel rooms not only succeeded in slowing the spread of COVID-19, but also provided security, privacy and dignity to hundreds of people in our region experiencing homelessness,鈥� said King County Executive Dow Constantine. 鈥淭his study conclusively demonstrates the positive impacts of providing our most vulnerable neighbors a place to call their own and 24/7 support, and it underscores the urgency in expanding these efforts in the coming months.鈥�

The research is being presented Wednesday to the .

鈥淓verything we know about homelessness reinforces that we need to remove the crisis of homelessness to allow people to move forward,鈥� said , an associate professor of public policy at the UW and one of the study鈥檚 authors. 鈥淲e know that from housing interventions, and what we know of mental health and getting to a place of stability, this intervention 鈥� while not perfect and not a substitute for housing 鈥� is closer to what we think might create conditions for someone to move on.鈥�

When the first cases of coronavirus, and information about the infectious nature of the disease, emerged in late winter, Seattle and King County sought alternatives for people staying in homeless shelters, both by relocating individuals and reconfiguring existing shelter spaces to allow for social distancing.

Beginning in April, the county leased hotel rooms in Seattle, , with management by four local housing service providers. The rooms have since served as temporary shelter for more than 800 people, and the hotels are not open to other guests.

Initial findings from the study of the hotel intervention showed that it achieved its primary goal: to slow the spread of COVID-19 among people experiencing homelessness. Researchers found fewer clusters and outbreaks of COVID-19 among individuals who stayed in hotels than among those who remained in traditional, large-group shelter settings.

鈥淭his emergency intervention is an example of an effective public response under very challenging circumstances that kept large numbers of highly vulnerable people safe during a pandemic,鈥� said , an assistant professor of real estate at the UW who specializes in housing affordability issues.

King County is evaluating how to continue and expand the program during and beyond the pandemic, incorporating information from people who have stayed at the hotels, social service providers and neighboring businesses. The county has extended the hotel leases through January 2021. The King County Council is also currently reviewing a proposal from the County Executive as part of the 2021-2022 biennial budget to purchase single-room properties such as hotels and nursing homes to create emergency housing and move as many as 2,000 people out of homelessness.

鈥淥ur service providers met the moment.听They shifted from congregate shelters to hotels on a week鈥檚 notice, and they kept their residents safe, slowed our entire community鈥檚 spread of COVID, and tested a better approach that we are now trying to bring to scale in partnership with cities across the County,鈥� said Leo Flor, director of King County鈥檚 Department of Community and Human Services. 鈥淭his report provides strong evidence that we can slow the spread of disease and turn the tide on chronic homelessness. Housing is a foundation for health at the individual and community levels.鈥�

Shortly after the program launched in the spring, evaluators with DCHS partnered with UW researchers Colburn and Fyall to study the effectiveness of the hotel intervention in protecting people from COVID-19.

With support from the social services agencies managing the intervention, researchers interviewed nearly two dozen people, as well as several staff members, at four hotels over the summer. The study also relied on data from the King County Homeless Management Information System, the Washington Disease Reporting System and Seattle Fire 911 dispatches to local agencies.

In addition to the findings related to disease transmission, researchers found that staff and individuals staying in the hotels reported other benefits:

• Increased feelings of stability associated with consistent access to a private room;
• Improved health and well-being, including sleep, hygiene and mental health;
• Reduced conflict, as evidenced by declines in 911 call volume from shelters;
• More time to think about and take steps toward future goals;
• Higher rates of exits to permanent housing.

Researchers found that basic hotel features contributed to the program鈥檚 success. Individuals had secure, private rooms; consistent access to meals; and the ability to store belongings and the freedom to come and go.

鈥淲hat we learned from our interviews was how incredibly grateful the people were who moved to hotels. It was a total life-changer for them,鈥� said Colburn. 鈥淎 little privacy, good sleep, and consistent meals can have a very significant impact on individual well-being.鈥�

A full report is expected on the hotel intervention later this fall.

Additional authors of the study were Samantha Thompson and Taquesha Dean, graduate students at the UW; and Christina McHugh, Pear Moraras, Victoria Ewing and Sarah Argodale, all of King County. The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a UW Population Health Initiative COVID-19 Economic Recovery Grant, and Urban@UW鈥檚 Homelessness Research Initiative.

For more information, contact Colburn at colburn3@uw.edu; Fyall at fyall@uw.edu or Sherry Hamilton, communications director for the King County Department of Community and Human Services at sherry.hamilton@kingcounty.gov.

This release was updated on Dec. 7 and includes a link to the final report. Further information about the report is available at .

Preliminary data from a survey of food and housing insecurity at the 天美影视传媒鈥檚 three campuses shows that an estimated 190 students may lack a stable place to live, and about one-quarter of students have worried recently about having enough to eat.

Results of the online survey, conducted by UW faculty in 2018, are still being finalized. But an early look provides estimates of the numbers of students who could be considered homeless, who rely on food banks or skip meals, and for whom the costs of housing and food clearly present a challenge as they try to obtain a college degree.

As students nationwide grapple with the costs of living 鈥� hundreds of colleges and universities, including the UW, provide some form of food pantry, emergency housing and other forms of assistance 鈥� 天美影视传媒 faculty and administrators have wanted to identify the scope of the problem on the Seattle, Tacoma and Bothell campuses. Officials say these initial results help establish a baseline for quantifying, and addressing, food and housing issues among the university鈥檚 nearly 55,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

The researchers will discuss some of these findings Friday at a workshop called . The event, held at El Centro de la Raza in Seattle, is organized by the UW, Seattle University and Seattle Pacific University.

鈥淎s the cost of living increases, we are seeing more cases where 鈥� in addition to the normal stresses and challenges of completing a college education 鈥撎齭ome of our students are struggling to maintain stable living situations and reliable nourishment,鈥� said Denzil Suite, UW鈥檚 vice president for Student Life. 听鈥淲e certainly have a role in ensuring that our students are able to maintain these basic necessities, and we have taken important steps in that direction. These findings will help us not only assess the problem, but inform how we can continue to address it.鈥�

Based on information contained in this , the university will reconvene its task force on Food & Housing Insecurity to examine how to mitigate the challenges students are facing, Suite said.

鈥淲e must not romanticize the 鈥榮tarving student鈥� clich茅,鈥� said , an environmental psychologist, professor in the UW College of Built Environments and one of three faculty members who led the study. Nationwide, , a shift in demographics.

鈥淲e鈥檙e in an era now when we need to take those shorthanded scripts about poverty among students and look at them more seriously for the realities that students face, their vulnerabilities and what they need for their health and well-being,鈥� Manzo said. 鈥淲e need to rethink who our students are and what their needs are in a growing region that鈥檚 unaffordable.鈥�

The idea for the survey began at a 2016 faculty summit hosted by , an interdisciplinary effort to tackle city issues through research, teaching and community collaboration. From that summit came the (HRI), which connects faculty researchers involved in homelessness issues across the Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma campuses. HRI鈥檚 initiatives have supported faculty in their efforts to, for example, develop a multidisciplinary social change curriculum, and establish a safe community hub for social services and identifying housing- and food-insecure UW students. This study was initiated and implemented by the faculty researchers themselves under the umbrella of Urban@UW and with the help of partnerships across the three campuses. UW Housing and Food Services and President Ana Mari Cauce鈥檚 Emerging Priorities Fund provided some financial support for the analysis.

The confidential, voluntary survey, administered during February and March 2018, posed a series of questions about current, past-month and past-year living situations, access to food, strategies for obtaining adequate food and housing, and sources of financial support. Methods for assembling a study sample varied slightly by campus: At UW Tacoma, a survey link was sent to all students; at the Bothell and Seattle campuses, students were sent the link at random. These different sampling strategies were used to balance the needs of each campus with a rigorous research approach.

From those efforts, 5,440 undergraduate and graduate students ages 18 and older responded, a 20% response rate based on the number of students who received the survey. The majority of respondents were from the Seattle campus, with one-fifth from UW Tacoma and one-tenth from UW Bothell. Two-thirds of respondents were female, and fewer than half were white, non-international students.

Researchers then weighted the results statistically to project data proportionate to the entire tri-campus population (referred to as 鈥減opulation-level data鈥�).

, an assistant professor in the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance and one of the study鈥檚 three investigators, said the results are still being finalized and interpreted. No one can say authoritatively, for example, exactly how many students are living in vehicles. But this estimate reflects the likelihood of such a circumstance, given the statistical extrapolation from the sample data, she said.

鈥淚t is clear that a minority of our university population is struggling,鈥� Fyall said. 鈥淭hey may be better off than some of the nonstudent population who are struggling with housing and food insecurity, but it is undeniable that there are substantial unmet needs at the UW.鈥�

Other key findings include:

• About 160 people 鈥攁n estimated 0.3% of the entire population 鈥攍ive in a car, shelter or 鈥渙ther area not intended for habitation.鈥�
• In the year leading up to the survey, an estimated 4,800 to 5,600 students experienced housing instability: They spent nights in a vehicle, shelter or tent, or doubled-up with friends.
• More than one-third of students said they 鈥渟ometimes鈥� or 鈥渙ften鈥� couldn鈥檛 afford to eat balanced meals, while 20% said they sometimes or often ran out of food, and didn鈥檛 have enough money to buy more.
• An estimated 9,400 to 10,500 students in a given month cut the size of their meals or skipped meals to keep their costs down.
• Some 21% said a rent increase in the last year had made it difficult to pay rent.

Similar studies at other universities around the country have turned up a wide range of data on student homelessness and hunger. Fyall, Manzo and co-author , an associate professor of Nursing and Healthcare Leadership Programs at UW Tacoma, explained that differences in methodology, such as who is included in the study sample or how questions are worded, can impact outcomes and make it hard to accurately compare one study to another.

The UW study, for instance, includes graduate students, which many other food and housing insecurity studies haven鈥檛 done, and means many responses could come from students who support partners and children, as well.

The survey also relied on the U.S. Department of Agriculture鈥檚 : the reduced quality, variety and desirability in a person鈥檚 diet, sometimes alongside lower food intake. Surveys elsewhere have asked about 鈥渉unger,鈥� which can generate different kinds of responses and interpretations.

UW researchers see a bottom-line takeaway: Students are struggling 鈥� some severely 鈥� with a lack of affordable housing and a generally high cost of living, while trying to go to class and achieve their goals.

Stevens, who helped launch a food pantry at UW Tacoma five years ago, said those survival issues 鈥� where to live and whether to eat 鈥� affect student health and success. If you don鈥檛 eat, you can鈥檛 concentrate, and you don鈥檛 do well in school, Stevens said. If you鈥檙e working multiple jobs to pay tuition and your bills, then the jobs probably come first.

鈥淭he problem is not in the students,鈥� Stevens said. 鈥淭he problem is in the economics of the system, the lack of financial aid to meet the need, and the lack of affordable housing to spend it on. We tend to look at the students as the problem, as separate from what is happening from the system-wide issues.鈥�

In addition to the food pantry, UW Tacoma has funded a full-time case manager to identify student needs and alert faculty to available resources to help students. Private donors support an emergency aid program that offers primarily cash assistance to students, and the campus recently collaborated with the Tacoma Housing Authority and a private developer on a property-subsidy program to get homeless students into housing.

UW Bothell also has an emergency aid program, and a food pantry in two locations, one on campus and the other in student housing. New this school year is a Health and Wellness Resource Center, which, among other services, connects students with one-time rental assistance and helps them enroll in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

And on the Seattle campus, efforts to address food and housing insecurity have extended to both the campus population and to young people in the surrounding neighborhood.

After a significant increase in the number of student visits from one academic year to the next, the Any Hungry Husky program last fall expanded and made permanent its . Both the campus and partner organizations in Seattle鈥檚 University District have hosted quarterly pop-up events 鈥� part social service fair, part pay-as-you-can caf茅 鈥� through , an effort led by Josephine Ensign, a professor in the UW School of Nursing, and supported by the Homelessness Research Initiative.

鈥淭he health and welfare of our students is our primary concern. That starts with reliable housing and access to food,鈥� Suite said. 鈥淭his survey deepens our ongoing effort to fully understand the need that exists, and we are committed to reviewing and updating our efforts to support our students in the years to come.鈥�

Researchers say their next step will be to examine the way food and housing needs are distributed across the student population. The team expects that different student populations have different levels of need around food and housing insecurity, and future findings will help the university consider how and where to target additional assistance.

听

For more information on the survey, contact Fyall at fyall@uw.edu or 206-616-7677, Manzo at lmanzo@uw.edu or 206-616-8697, or Stevens at cstevens@uw.edu or 253-692-5675.

It started with a Sunday afternoon caf茅 outside a community center last December 鈥� the 天美影视传媒鈥檚 to reach homeless youth around the U District.

In the eight months since, the UW鈥檚 effort, known as , has offered a caf茅 in the neighborhood each quarter, while students have helped add services 鈥� from preventive health care to establishing a fundraising organization to designing a permanent caf茅 home.

Now, as The Doorway Project prepares for its summer caf茅 on Friday, faculty, students and partner organizations are planning a second, expanded school year of serving the neighborhood, which has one of the largest concentrations of homeless young adults in the area. The 2018 Count Us In point-in-time count 鈥� a one-night tally in January 鈥� found 1,518 homeless youth and young adults under age 25 in King County.

鈥淲e have a relatively unique vision, a caf茅 that is welcoming of all community members and isn鈥檛 the 鈥榟omeless youth caf茅,鈥欌�� said听, a professor in the UW School of Nursing and director of The Doorway Project. 听鈥淭he young people we have worked with at the pop-up cafes tell us they like not feeling the stigma of a homeless specific shelter or drop-in center. On a macro level, the working through multiple community-campus partnerships while simultaneously delivering services was a success. Now we鈥檙e trying to build on the considerable assets of young people and our community.鈥�

The Doorway Project emerged as part of Urban@UW鈥檚 . The UW received $1 million from the state over two years, to be shared between the university and its community partner in the endeavor, The longtime Seattle organization coordinates social service resources for homeless youth, while at the UW, the schools of nursing and social work are leading the community-based participatory data collection that informs design and planning for the permanent, indoor home for the caf茅 and its related services. With Doorway funds, the UW Carlson Leadership & Public Service Center provides 10 paid student internships with community partners serving homeless youth. These student interns provided 1,900 hours of community service for the first year of the Doorway Project.

Attendance at the caf茅 events was one success, Ensign said. Some 400 people participated in the pop-up cafes, which aim to take a navigation center approach: In addition to meals, the events offer basic medical care and resources for transportation, education, legal help, housing and other social and support services.

Student involvement helped expand the reach, she added. A number of groups, both formal and informal, have provided services, such as the Health Sciences students who offer care through University District Street Medicine, and the Doorway Project registered student organization, which since January has organized volunteers and recently set up a page to help support the caf茅鈥檚 鈥減ay-it-forward鈥� model. Not everyone carries cash to put toward meals on site, Doorway Project research assistant explained, so the online fundraising link gives people a chance to donate outside of the event.

UW students see homelessness 鈥渁ll around them every day,鈥� said Weatherton, a graduate student in nursing who specializes in mental health.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been an opportunity for them to plug into the larger University District community and begin to make a difference both on and off campus,鈥� he said.

Moving operations indoors is a priority for Doorway鈥檚 second year, Ensign said, as is, ultimately, landing a permanent spot for the caf茅 in the University District. The quarterly cafes have rotated around the neighborhood so far.

An initial schematic for the caf茅 will be on hand this Friday, with interactive community feedback. The sketch incorporates ideas from homeless youth, service providers and community members: a street-level coffee house, with a small lending library, art room, and connections to adjacent rooms for a wellness center, education, counseling services and a studio space for ongoing community-campus collaborative projects.

鈥淥ur aim with the Doorway Project is to create a community caf茅, a safe space and resource hub for all young people in the U District experiencing housing and food insecurity 鈥� to have it be a welcoming place for coffee and positive community connections so everyone has a chance to thrive,鈥� Ensign said.

In a region as expensive as the Puget Sound, making ends meet affects college students, too.

Rent, utilities and food can run into the hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars a month 鈥� and for students without the means, it’s a daunting and sometimes compromising challenge.

Urban@UW is trying to learn more about the situations facing students. From now through March 16, a is available for students ages 18 or older at all three 天美影视传媒 campuses. The voluntary survey is confidential.

Organizers say the information is vital to learning more about how students confront housing and food insecurity.

“It’s a broad perception and assumption that students in post-secondary education don’t have an issue with meeting basic needs,” said , an assistant professor of public policy in the Evans School and faculty chair of Urban@UW’s . “In the Puget Sound region, we have experienced exponential increases in the cost of living, mostly associated with housing costs, but there’s been no systematic effort to understand how that affects students.”

Urban@UW is an interdisciplinary effort to tackle city issues through research, teaching and community collaboration. Last fall, faculty involved in the Homelessness Research Initiative debuted , a quarterly caf茅, with outreach services, targeted at homeless youth and the University District neighborhood as a whole. The most recent pop-up caf茅, held Feb. 25, served more than 120 people in the parking lot of the University Heights Center. The next is scheduled April 22 in the same location.

As part of the research initiative, Fyall is leading the UW student survey, along with , an associate professor of landscape architecture, and , an associate professor at the Nursing and Healthcare Leadership Program at UW Tacoma.

The idea for the survey grew from the same 2016 faculty summit that launched the research initiative. Assembled with the help of student focus groups, as well as faculty and staff members, the survey asks a series of questions about housing and food costs, frequency of moves, and the resources students use to meet their needs, from campus food pantries to financial assistance programs.

The survey also is similar to one that Stevens conducted at UW Tacoma five years ago. That survey estimated that nearly one-third of the Tacoma student body was “food insecure,” as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and 10 percent met federal education law criteria for homelessness. The data from that survey ultimately led, through the UW Tacoma Office of Equity & Inclusion, to the creation of a food pantry, which receives 500 to 700 individual visits a month, Stevens said. Following the survey, the Department of Student Engagement hired a social worker and two interns to manage emergency aid to students, thanks to the involvement of various campus partners.

What interventions might emerge from the new, tri-campus survey are unknown, Fyall said. A follow-up study to interview students struggling with these challenges, for which Fyall and her colleagues have applied for funding, could reveal more about how students are coping, and lead to some additional resources from the administration.

“We can’t work on the problem without having the data,” she said.

Each campus population is different, Stevens added. Eventual solutions could address specific needs, possibly changing how the university constructs financial aid packages, provides emergency aid, or allocates additional funding to broaden services in the food pantry such as culturally appropriate offerings.

“Even with all the things we have to provide access into universities, it’s still not enough for certain populations of students,” Stevens said. “There’s inequity among our population, and it’s our role to address that inequity. We’re changing our society, because there will be more educated people in our community. These students aren’t asking for anything except for a really good education, and it shouldn’t be harder for some students than others.”

Seattle’s homeless crisis isn’t confined to one part of town 鈥� nor does it hinge on one solution.

The University District community includes as much as one-third of King County’s homeless youth over any given year. It’s a neighborhood where a food bank and youth shelter are available, and where young people on the streets can blend in.

But more needs to be done in the U District and beyond to help homeless young adults become self-sufficient over the long term.

Now the 天美影视传媒, in a partnership among faculty, student and community service agencies 鈥� and with $1 million in state funding over two years 鈥� is launching , an effort to establish a neighborhood hub and navigation center specifically for homeless young people. The Doorway Project will bring youth in the U District together with UW faculty and students to develop plans for a hub starting with a pop-up caf茅 on Dec. 3 in the parking lot of the University Heights Community Center 鈥� the first of four such events that organizers hope will lead to plans for permanent site next year.

“A public university has a mandate to have a larger impact on these kinds of problems,” said , a professor in the UW School of Nursing and coordinator of The Doorway Project. “But it shouldn’t be an ivory tower, think-tank solution; it needs to involve public scholarship, informed by the public and impacting the public.”

The caf茅 event, scheduled from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3, marks the first step in a three-pronged University initiative to tackle homelessness. With pay-as-you-can food trucks, live music, social-service agency representatives and access to indoor restrooms and warming space, The Doorway Project aims to connect with homeless youth while including the University District neighborhood as a whole.

“We wanted it to be youth-friendly, but not youth-exclusive,” Ensign said.

Homelessness in Seattle has been on the rise. The annual Count Us In report count last January recorded , a roughly 10 percent increase over the . Of that number, nearly 1,500 were between the ages of 18 and 24, living alone or with a family member.

In the University District, several agencies within a few blocks of campus, such as the University District Food Bank, Roots Young Adult Shelter and YouthCare’s University District Youth Center, are trying to meet some of the need. But the population exceeds the available resources and, in many cases, young people are reluctant to take advantage of existing services, Ensign said.

A part of , an interdisciplinary effort to tackle city issues through research, teaching, and community collaboration, The Doorway Project emerged from a 2016 faculty summit, which Urban@UW director convened to brainstorm how the university could help alleviate homelessness around all three of its campuses. From that summit, Urban@UW embarked on its Homelessness Research Initiative: to develop a multidisciplinary social change curriculum; to identify and serve housing- and food-insecure UW students; and to establish a safe community hub for social services.

“If the existing system just scales up what it’s doing, it’s still not going to be enough to meet the growing homeless population,” said Way, a professor of landscape architecture who chairs the UW Faculty Senate. “Can we think about offering services in a different framework with faculty, staff and students at the table; with community agencies, the city and the state at the table? We can do something together that none of us could have done alone.”

With the support of Washington Speaker of the House Frank Chopp (D 鈥� Seattle), a longtime advocate of housing and social services, the UW received $1 million from the state over two years. The $500,000 this year will be split between the University and to launch The Doorway Project.

Chopp said The Doorway Project represents a unique partnership between the University and service providers.

“Youth homelessness is on the rise in our community, and that’s a trend we must reverse,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for the UW to fully utilize its resources and academic expertise, and to engage faculty and students to address this growing crisis.”

听The Doorway Project pop-up events are intended to test different ways of connecting homeless youth with services in order to inform design of a permanent location next year. Ensign, who has worked with homeless youth for more than 30 years, leads the project for the UW. She drew upon her time working with the street population in Auckland, New Zealand, where the has long provided a variety of homeless services within the walls of an otherwise typical community restaurant, and began envisioning a similar, service-oriented neighborhood caf茅 in the University District.

The concept of a neighborhood caf茅 is meant to both reach out and draw in, said , a teaching associate in the School of Social Work and a leader of The Doorway Project, along with Ensign and , a professor in the UW School of Law.

“The whole idea of being homeless is very labeling on a young person. Young people generally do not want to be identified as being homeless,” she said. “This is an effort not about being homeless but inviting the community in. If a person is homeless, or on the brink of being homeless, or simply presents a need, we’d be able to respond to those needs in some way. At the same time, maybe there are other people from the neighborhood who would come in and see the needs and want to help.”

The research component is critical, Ensign said, because it involves asking homeless youth what they want 鈥� mapping where they go and what services they turn to now, and how that system could be enhanced.

Kelly said this approach sets the effort on a path forward. “Understanding these reasons can move us forward on multiple fronts,” Kelly said. “By listening in a way that recognizes the expertise of the youth themselves, we can design a place that meets their needs in a user-friendly way. 听Through listening, we will also hear about the barriers to access that exist right now, and we may be able to identify the larger structural challenges baked into the laws and policies that govern how services are offered.”

YouthCare, which has worked with homeless youth in Seattle for more than 40 years, will coordinate caf茅 operations and the availability of resources and information from various social services. At the UW, the School of Nursing and the Carlson Leadership & Public Service Center will conduct community-based data collection and the planning and design of the caf茅.

“We know what works to stabilize young people and help them develop their potential,” said YouthCare CEO and President Melinda Giovengo. “One thing we鈥檝e found that works extremely well is to engage young people who are experiencing homelessness, treat them as the rightful experts on their experience, and give them a voice in solutions going forward. We鈥檙e really proud to be part of the Doorway Project, because it鈥檚 a new way of addressing youth homelessness in the University District鈥攁sking youth to be part of the conversation.”

###

For more information, contact Ensign at 206-890-0679 or bjensign@uw.edu; Way at 206-685-2523 or tway@uw.edu; or Brittny Nielsen at YouthCare, 206-204-1411 or Brittny.Nielsen@youthcare.org.

The 天美影视传媒’s Livable City Year (LCY) program has selected the City of Tacoma as the program’s community partner for the 2017-2018 academic year. This partnership establishes a yearlong relationship connecting students and faculty with city staff working on projects that advance goals outlined in its and strategic visioning framework.

鈥淎s听Tacoma continues to evolve and attract more residents,听we want to ensure that听this growth is sustainable and our entire community benefits,鈥� said Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland. 鈥淲e听are pleased to be听selected as a听天美影视传媒 Livable City Year partner听and听we听look forward to a partnership that will听achieve听realistic, specific and measurable goals to address education, employment, equity and accountability.听We are particularly excited about the opportunity to strengthen our ties听with UW’s Tacoma campus.鈥�

The program will connect UW courses with projects identified by Tacoma related to the city鈥檚 livability and sustainability needs. The program works with faculty across all UW schools, colleges and campuses to match the projects to courses and students who can best address the real-world problems, while providing city staff with the resources of UW student and faculty research and project work.

鈥淭he 天美影视传媒 is incredibly proud to honor our public promise through partnerships like this one, which creates so many opportunities for our students, faculty and staff to work with the Tacoma community toward a tangible, positive impact,”听said UW President Ana Mari Cauce.听“We鈥檙e especially pleased to be doing Livable City Year in the home of our UW Tacoma campus, and can鈥檛 wait to see how these interdisciplinary and hands-on learning projects extend and build on the thriving partnership we鈥檝e had with Tacoma for more than two decades.鈥�

鈥淚n the upcoming year, city staff will work with the 天美影视传媒鈥檚 Livable City Year program to identify projects and programs that would benefit from 天美影视传媒 student and faculty assistance,鈥� said Tacoma2025 Program Manager Tanisha Jumper. 鈥淚t is an exciting partnership.鈥�

The 天美影视传媒鈥檚 Livable City Year program is led by faculty directors with the Department of Urban Design and Planning, and with the School of Public Health, in collaboration with 听and听, and with foundational support from听the , the听天美影视传媒鈥檚 and .

The UW鈥檚 Livable City Year program launched in the 2016-2017 academic year, with the City of Auburn serving as its inaugural partner. UW students and faculty worked with the City of Auburn on 18 projects during the initial Livable City Year partnership.

“We are excited to partner with Tacoma and build on the success of our inaugural Livable City Year,” Otten said. “Students and faculty have done very exciting work on livability projects in Auburn this year, and working with Tacoma will provide new opportunities for students to work on projects which will benefit residents in Tacoma and our region.”

Anne Taufen Wessells, a professor with UW Tacoma Urban Studies, will serve as faculty co-director and the primary UW Tacoma contact throughout the Livable City Year partnership with the City of Tacoma, helping identify opportunities for UW Tacoma students to connect with Livable City Year projects.

鈥淚t鈥檚 terrific that we have the opportunity in Tacoma to leverage our university-wide resources and relationships to forge this unique partnership in the South Sound,鈥� said Wessells.听 鈥淯W Tacoma’s academic programs, including urban studies, have long defined themselves by their commitment to local communities, and we are thrilled to have the yearlong added support and investment of the Livable City Year program to target and amplify the work of the entire campus as an urban-serving institution.鈥�

One of several across the country based on the University of Oregon’s Sustainable City Year Program, the UW鈥檚 Livable City Year program is part of the Educational Partners for Innovation in Communities Network, which provides resources and connections for schools with similar programs. The UW and Western Washington University are the only two schools in Washington state currently offering a program under this model.

鈥淐ities are a great laboratory for today鈥檚 students and tomorrow鈥檚 leaders to put their ideas and training into action,鈥� said the听Association of Washington Cities CEO Peter B. King. 鈥淭he unique projects and creative solutions that emerge from partnerships like this strengthen our cities and towns.鈥�

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For more information, contact Born at听bborn@uw.edu听or听206-543-4975; Otten at jotten@uw.edu; and Maria Lee, communications specialist with the City of Tacoma at maria.lee@cityoftacoma.org or (253) 591-2054.

The Livable City Year program will hold a celebration event marking the successful completion of the initial partnership with the City of Auburn at 4 p.m. May 24 at the Auburn Community & Event Center, 910 Ninth St SE, Auburn.

Transportation routing services primarily designed for people in cars don鈥檛 give pedestrians, parents pushing bulky strollers or people in wheelchairs much information about how to easily navigate a neighborhood using sidewalks.

For someone with limited mobility, using sidewalks or pedestrian paths in an unfamiliar area can be like driving without directions and hitting dead end after dead end. Obstacles include hills that are too steep for wheelchairs or people with certain health issues to climb and sidewalks without sloped 鈥溾�� that allow people using wheeled devices to safely and easily cross intersections.

On Wednesday 鈥� a 天美影视传媒 project spearheaded by the 鈥� launched a new online travel planner offering customizable suggestions for people who need accessible or pedestrian-friendly routes when getting from point A to B in Seattle.

It will also route people around Seattle鈥檚 ubiquitous building and construction sites that can close sidewalks for entire blocks, forcing people who are traveling on foot or using assistive devices to embark on unforeseen detours.

The team of student engineers and computer scientists, through its project, is also creating a and toolkits that will eventually let users in Seattle and other communities crowdsource and map detailed, real-world conditions on pedestrian pathways and intersections 鈥� from sidewalk widths and problematic surface conditions to the presence of ramps, handrails and adequate lighting.

鈥淭he big highlight now is our ability to offer automated routing and accessible travel planning for Seattle residents who may have mobility challenges or may simply want to find the easiest way to navigate a neighborhood with a toddler on a tricycle,鈥� said Taskar Center director . 鈥淚dentifying routes that optimize not for time or distance but for things like changes in elevation and curb cuts is a really big and important change.鈥�

Information that allows for safe, accessible travel planning on pedestrian pathways previously did not exist in one place or in a user-friendly format. While it is particularly useful for people with disabilities, information about elevation and curb ramps can also help delivery drivers who push hand trucks, people on crutches or knee scooters, travelers hauling luggage to a light rail stop or children learning to bike or roller skate.

The AccessMap team won a in 2015 and subsequently participated the summer program sponsored by the eScience Institute, Urban@UW and Microsoft. They compiled and cleaned up disparate data from local and federal sources on street elevation, curb cuts and other accessibility features to create a zoom able map of Seattle鈥檚 sidewalks and pedestrian paths. People could consult that online map to pick more accessible or pedestrian-friendly routes on their own.

Now, AccessMap allows someone to type in a starting and ending destination in Seattle and receive automated route suggestions. Users can customize their preferences to avoid hills of a certain grade or navigate around construction sites.

For example, the pedestrian directions from University Street Station on Second Avenue to Seattle City Hall on Fifth Avenue on Google Maps route people up Seneca Street, which has a steep 10 percent grade that鈥檚 problematic for people in wheelchairs or with certain injuries or health conditions. By contrast, AccessMap sends people two blocks north to Pike Street, which has a much gentler grade of less than 2 percent.

The research team has recently expanded its focus to create new pedestrian standards for , a crowdsourced global mapping effort that relies on volunteers to create detailed, up-to-date maps of street conditions. The team is working to create easy-to-use editing tools that will allow people anywhere to enter detailed information about sidewalks, paved trails and other pedestrian paths.

They have identified 10 urban areas with active mapping and advocacy communities with promising expansion potential: New York, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Portland, Pittsburgh, Denver, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

鈥淲e hope to be able to crowdsource all kinds of information that relates to accessibility: where a sidewalk may be cracked or buckled because of a tree root, other obstacles, inclines, lighting, how smooth the surface is, whether there鈥檚 tactile paving,鈥� said , a UW electrical engineering doctoral student and project technical lead for AccessMap and OpenSidewalks. 鈥淥ur goal is to have a set of toolkits and instructions so other municipalities and local communities can get their own mapping efforts up and running.鈥�

The OpenSidewalks project is also partnering with the Seattle Public Schools and the City of Seattle on the initiative, which aims to increase the number of kids walking and biking to school. They hope to introduce materials and app-based toolkits this fall that will allow students to gather and upload information about the quality and safety of sidewalks and intersections around their schools.

鈥淲e want to teach and promote little citizen scientists to survey a one-mile radius of their school communities in more detail than someone sitting on a couch and looking at aerial maps could,鈥� said Caspi. 鈥淭hen they can upload the information to a permanent and publicly accessible site, where it can be used to guide investments that will benefit all types of sidewalk users.鈥�

Projects have been funded by the Taskar Center for Accessible Technology at the UW Department of Computer Science & Engineering, eScience Institute, Urban@UW, the Ford Blue Oval Network, UW Vertically Integrated Projects and the Seattle Department of Transportation Hack the Commute Hackathon.

Additional team members include UW human centered design and engineering master鈥檚 student , electrical engineering doctoral student and computer science and engineering undergraduate student and Urban@UW graduate research assistant .

For more information, contact Caspi at caspian@cs.washington.edu or Bolten at bolten@uw.edu. Note: The newest version of AccessMap with customizable routing is located at /.

The begins on Jan. 17 with remarks from UW President Ana Mari Cauce, Seattle Deputy Mayor Kate Joncas, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire. Trish Millines Dziko, founder and director of the Technology Access Foundation, will address how to mentor the next generation of leaders.

In the afternoon, representatives from Microsoft, the City of Chicago and several academic institutions will discuss how data science can be incorporated into more efficient and effective urban human services.

, which launched in fall 2015 as part of the , includes more than 40 university-city partnerships that will focus on the research, development and deployment of projects that offer technologically and analytically based solutions to challenges facing urban areas. Over the next year, MetroLab members will develop solutions in four areas, called “labs”: water and green infrastructure; sensors; traffic and transportation; and big data and human services.

The Seattle-UW partnership is one of the founding members of MetroLab and will focus in part on pairing academic researchers with city leaders to address homelessness issues as well as transportation. Next week’s event will also include a day of workshops for researchers and human services experts to make connections on existing projects and identify priorities for the partnership.

Work will continue after the meeting as MetroLab members focus on opportunities for collaborative research and scalable projects. The workshop will also consider which tools and materials 鈥� data-sharing standards, white papers, software 鈥� would be broadly beneficial to city-university efforts. , the UW’s and are several university groups听that will play a large role in the partnership.

The water and green infrastructure lab kicked off in October 2016 with a workshop in Washington, D.C., and the other labs will begin work in 2017.

General registration is now closed, but those still interested in attending can email katy.getsie@metrolabnetwork.org. Members of the media should RSVP to听program coordinator Jess Hamilton at jesshami@uw.edu.

Climate change can exacerbate those issues, affecting everything from housing to food systems. And growing numbers of people moving to urban areas further strains infrastructure and creates additional challenges.

The complex interplay between urban development, climate change and environmental and social justice is the focus of a two-day to be held at the 天美影视传媒 Nov. 7 and 8. The free, public event will feature speakers from around the country and panel discussions on topics ranging from urban population health to teaching about environmental justice.

Co-hosted by and the UW-based , the event will bring together academics, community organizations and local leaders to discuss challenges and solutions, said , program manager for Urban@UW.

“Seattle has always been considered a leader in environmental issues,” she said. “It鈥檚 a community that鈥檚 rich with ideas, with people who are working hard on environmental justice and climate justice. We want the 天美影视传媒 to contribute to that work.”

UW participants will come from departments and schools across campus 鈥� from environmental and forest sciences to sociology, history, medicine and global health. The event鈥檚 visiting speakers include , director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program and the co-founder of Women of Color United. Patterson has worked as a researcher, program manager and activist on women鈥檚 rights, violence against women, HIV/AIDS, racial justice and environmental justice.

Patterson will give a lecture at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7, in Kane Hall 120, on “Upholding the Beloved Community: Advancing a Just and Equitable Transition to a Low Carbon World.” The talk is free but is required.

Other guest speakers throughout the two days are:

• Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Minnesota-based and a of the 2016 Gandhi Peace Award
• , a professor of environmental science, policy and management at the University of California, Berkeley, whose research focuses on environmental health and justice
• , chair of American Studies at UC Davis and the founding director of the Environmental Justice Project at the university鈥檚 John Muir Institute for the Environment
• , an assistant professor of environmental science at The New School in New York City, whose research focuses on environmental history, race and resource management

The event grew out of roundtable discussions following the October 2015 for Urban@UW, an interdisciplinary initiative that brings together researchers, city decisionmakers and citizens to collaborate on significant challenges facing the rapidly growing city and region. Environmental justice and climate change came up repeatedly during those talks, and Urban@UW recognized the need for a broader forum to address those issues, program coordinator said.

“We saw this as an opportunity to bring people in from different disciplines to tackle a big urban challenge,” said Hamilton, a UW graduate student in landscape architecture. “This is something that鈥檚 going to affect everybody, regardless of where you鈥檙e positioned geographically.”

The symposium is from 10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days at the , 3931 Brooklyn Ave. NE. A full schedule is available . Space is limited, so participants are encouraged to in advance.

For more information, contact Davison at jnfrdvsn@uw.edu or 206-240-6903 or Hamilton at jesshami@gmail.com or 646-369-9015.

In this inaugural year, UW faculty will lead classes to work on 15 to 20 projects identified by the City of Auburn. Students will provide tens of thousands of hours of study and production toward specific projects identified by Auburn, while benefiting from the opportunity to apply classroom lessons to real-world problems.

鈥淭his partnership represents the very best kind of UW student experience by creating opportunities for community engagement, practical problem-solving and interdisciplinary study,鈥� said 天美影视传媒 President Ana Mari Cauce. 鈥淭he UW could not be prouder to partner with the City of Auburn through the Livable City Year program to combine education with making positive change in a Washington community.鈥�

The Auburn City Council voted unanimously Aug. 29 to enter into an agreement with the UW for the program.

The UW’s Livable City Year program is a cross-university collaboration led by faculty directors Branden Born, an associate professor in the , and Jennifer Otten, an assistant professor in the , in collaboration with and with foundational support from , the and , as well as from the听non-profit organization听, which works with cities and their partners around the state. The program connects local governments with UW classes to address community-identified areas of need. The coordinated, cross-discipline approach provides the local partners with a new option to enhance sustainability and livability elements within existing and future projects and programs.

鈥淚 think the most powerful thing about Livable City Year is that it allows UW to connect with communities throughout the state using this field-tested and mutually beneficial model,鈥� said program manager Jennifer Davison, who also manages Urban@UW. 鈥淭his partnership with Auburn will be fully supported every step of the way by the program, from project identification and connection with faculty and courses, to student experience and final delivery of meaningful work to the city. It鈥檚 really exciting to see it coming together.”

Auburn’s government and administration were early champions of the program, and the city’s willingness and preparedness to take on this opportunity helped move the program forward from an idea to a reality.

鈥淲e are incredibly honored and excited to be partnering with the 天美影视传媒 on these projects and to be part of this ground breaking year for the program,” Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus said.

鈥淭his program is an incredible example of what higher education can do for our community,” said Auburn Deputy Mayor Largo Wales. “Not only does this give students a unique hands-on learning opportunity, it provides the city with the opportunity to complete valuable projects that we would not have been able to otherwise.鈥�

Livable City Year is based on the University of Oregon鈥檚 and is a member of the .

鈥淏y听connecting many courses over one academic year to projects that address the partner听city鈥檚 specific goals, Livable City Year can have broad impacts that are difficult for faculty to听achieve on their own,鈥� Born said.听鈥淟ivable City Year gives faculty across many disciplines a chance to work together in a fully collaborative UW effort.”

As part of the Livable City Year process, Auburn directors and staff identified almost 50 different possible projects for consideration. UW faculty will select 15 to 20 of these projects as subjects for classes in a variety of disciplines. Students will work on the projects in conjunction with Auburn staff for a meaningful end result. Projects were identified over a wide range of topics, such as public works, innovation and technology, urban planning and more.

鈥淭his program provides students with an opportunity to tackle meaningful and challenging real-world problems,鈥� Otten said. “Projects addressed in these UW class and city collaborations directly affect the health and well-being of the city鈥檚 population. Students will gain an introduction to the civic process and get an opportunity to become better engaged with local communities.鈥�

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For more information, contact Born at听bborn@uw.edu听or听206-543-4975; Davison at听jnfrdvsn@uw.edu听or听206-240-6903; and Jenna Leonard, Auburn’s climate and sustainability practice leader, at听jleonard@auburnwa.gov听or听253-804-5092.

Marc Schlossberg, co-director of the University of Oregon’s Sustainable Cities Initiative, is available to talk about this similar program:听schlossb@uoregon.edu听or听541-346-2046.

The Livable City Year program will hold a kickoff event highlighting the projects UW students will be working on during the fall quarter on Oct. 6 at 10 a.m. in the听w菨色菨b蕯altx史 鈥� Intellectual House at the 天美影视传媒.