Puget Sound Sage

Building the future we want, together

How we build people power:

We are a systems change organization that works at the local level. Puget Sound Sage charts a path to a living economy in the Puget Sound region by developing community power to influence, lead, and govern. 

A living economy is an environment where natural resources are renewable and people's labor is cooperative and all of the things a community needs are controlled and governed by everyday people: like housing, schools, farms and food production, local governance structures, art and culture, healthcare and healing, and transportation. 

What we're fighting for this year:

🌎 Launching a statewide Making Polluters Pay campaign with 350 Seattle to require the biggest fossil fuel polluters to pay their fair share for the climate damages in Washington State.

🌆 Building grassroots power in Seattle's Chinatown-International District, through years of deep community organizing to ensure our neighborhood remains a home for working class and immigrant communities for generations to come. 

⛔ Protecting our neighborhoods against targeted attacks by the federal government by organizing 500+ community members across 20 neighborhoods through neighborhood ICE-Free Zone trainings.

✨ Cultivating deep democracy through the Community Leadership Institute, which has graduated 170+ emerging leaders, expanded to Clark County in 2022 and Snohomish County in 2026, and over the past decade has become one of the most successful boards and commissions placement programs for leaders of color in Washington State.

What we've won:

Winning policy solutions that put people first:

By combining community-based research with organizing, we win people-centered policy solutions in Seattle and King County, including:

🏡 Establishing Equitable Development Initiatives in Seattle and King County that provide affordable housing and put land and housing under community control.

🌿 Developing a Green New Deal in Seattle to eliminate the city's pollution, address environmental injustices across Seattle's neighborhoods, and create good, green jobs.

🌆 Winning progressive revenue through JumpStart, a one-of-a-kind progressive tax on big business in Seattle, which invests millions in programs that keep our communities safe and healthy, including housing, climate, and public health investments.

🚌 Publishing ground-breaking research reports including Thriving in Place, Powering the Transition, and Our People, Our Planet, Our Power, which have set the local frame for an equitable transition towards a just and sustainable future across our region.

📈 Passing living wage initiatives in SeaTac and Seattle, which set the stage for sweeping labor standards across the country and led to a national movement in the Fight for $15. It also led to the creation of Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards.