Forterra is proud to announce that it is awarding a Community Restoration Grant to Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association in Delridge, Seattle.
Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA) aims to integrate art, nature, and neighborhood to build and sustain a dynamic Delridge. With this grant, DNDA engages students at Roxhill Elementary School to restore EC Hughes Playground Park, a vital green space close to where students live.
Through a series of field trips, students engage in hands-on forest restoration activities and collaborative nature-inspired artmaking. These experiences offer students a meaningful role in restoring this natural area, while learning the names and characteristics of native and invasive plant species, exploring the importance of urban forests, and reflecting on how to take these concepts back to their school and homes. By combining art and environmental education, the program fosters a deeper emotional connection to a place and a deeper understanding of ecology.
This program is especially important to Roxhill, as they relocated a mile away from their original site within a public park to a fully paved campus. For many children, this program offers their first chance to plant a tree or explore a forest. This project is their entry point to a lifelong connection with nature.
DNDA launched this program last year with help from a Forterra Community Restoration Grant in 2024. With this renewed funding, DNDA expands the program from 112 K–5 students to over 160 students, deepening its impact through multidisciplinary field experiences and collaborative, nature-inspired artmaking.
To reinforce EC Hughes Park as a community gathering space and shared ecological resource, DNDA is also hosting an annual community restoration event. This event invites families, residents, and volunteers to join in habitat improvement work and shared celebration.
Congratulations to the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association! We are so grateful for the work you do.
