2023 Bullitt Prize Winner Kristina Chu 2023 Bullitt Environmental Prize Winner Examines the Environmental and Health Risks of Urban Community Gardens and Farms SEATTLE – The Bullitt Foundation is awarding the 17th annual Bullitt Environmental Prize to Kristina Chu (they/she), a master’s student at the School of Social Work at the University of Washington. Chu’s work examines the environmental...
Bullitt Trustee Erim Gomez Moves to University of Montana Bullitt Trustee and former Bullitt Prize winner Erim Gomez has accepted a position at the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana, one of the nation's top Wildlife Biology Programs.
MISSION
To safeguard the natural environment by promoting responsible human activities and sustainable communities in the Pacific Northwest.
VISION
A future that safeguards the vitality of natural ecosystems while accommodating a sustainable human population in healthy, vibrant, equitable, and prosperous communities.
GEOGRAPHY
The Foundation’s geographic focus was on the Emerald Corridor – the region bounded by Vancouver, BC to the north, Portland to the south, and the Cascades to the east. Within that geographic range, our work was targeted to specific sub-regions associated with the three major population centers and the more rural areas experiencing significant growth pressures.
APPROACH
The Foundation’s resources were modest when compared to the ambitious mission of promoting sustainable development over a huge region. So its role was mostly catalytic.
The Foundation looked for high risk, high potential payoff opportunities to exert unusual leverage. It had a special interest in demonstrating innovative approaches that promise to solve multiple problems simultaneously. It strived to build the intellectual foundations and political support needed for sweeping innovation.
The Bullitt Foundation placed high value on being nimble and able to respond quickly to emerging threats and opportunities, while still acting with deliberation and strategic sensibility. At any moment, within its broad mission, the Foundation was focused on a relatively small subset of explicit priorities that appeared especially ripe for progress. The Foundation recognized that environmental issues are inherently interconnected, and it marshaled staff and financial resources across its programs to achieve success.
The Foundation focused on root causes rather than symptoms. It prefered to prevent problems rather than cure them. It sought to identify the most talented individuals and most effective organizations and empowered them to respond to the most important issues facing the region.
TACTICS
The Bullitt Foundation supported a variety of tactics to advance its mission, and its grantees tended to be very creative in devising projects and campaigns to build understanding, advance policy innovations, and enhance the political power needed to affect change. These tactics generally included the following:
