Meet the Team
We work hard to uplift our neighborhood and the people around us.
Get to know the dedicated individuals who make up Skyway Coalition. We’re a small but mighty team made up of community members who are passionate about uplifting Skyway. From our executive director to our volunteers, each member brings unique skills and experiences to our team. By getting to know our team, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the people advocating for community, by community. Do you have something to share with our team members? Please contact us here.
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Avery Huff was born & raised in Atlanta, GA. She moved to Skyway in 2018 and has been serving this community ever since. She is a spiritual herbalist, community gardener, and community advocate. She is committed to food justice and the healing of the Black and Brown community as a whole. So it is, so it shall be!
Avery
Beth
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Beth Hintz is a Skyway resident and small business owner, with more than 20 years of experience as a grant writer and nonprofit professional. Her business is Write for Good, which provides strategic and creative grant writing, communications, and editing services to nonprofits and socially-minded businesses. She is committed to intersectional social justice and equity, and she partners with organizations who are working for a more just world. She has collaborated with and raised funds for a variety of organizations focused on educational justice, environmental and climate justice, youth development, social service, social enterprise, and grassroots community development and organizing. She is grateful for and honored by the opportunity to partner with amazing people and organizations in Skyway and beyond.
Fin’es
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Fin'es Scott (she/her) is a Skyway native and dedicated Communications Specialist with a heart for her community. Her love for art, design, illustration, and writing has become a driving force in her mission to uplift and unite her beloved Skyway.
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Hannah Wilson (they/them) is a mixed Black queer deaf Seattle Southend resident, farmer, and community organizer rooted in environmental justice and food sovereignty. They graduated from the University of Washington with a BS in Environmental Science and Resource Management and a minor in Geography. They first began organizing with Skyway via the Silent Task Force to provide fresh produce from the farm to Black elders in the community. As a queer, disabled deaf Black non-binary person, their intersectional identity informs the way they walk through the world and the work they do. They have committed their life’s work centered around Black liberation, continuing to organize around community building, growing food, healing, and our relationships to the land and each other.
Hannah
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Jeannie Williams is a long-time resident and advocate of Skyway-West Hill. She has a deep passion for Skyway, as she purchased a home and raised her family in the community more than 30 years ago. She worked in the corporate retail and airline environment as a Sr. Technical Program Manager and brings many years of Leadership and Program Management skills to her role. Jeannie has lived through the community changes and has been deeply involved in Skyway-West Hill community work since 2001. She has been a long-time member of Skyway UMC and has served on multiple Skyway Community Boards and in Leadership positions. Jeannie is very honored to be part of the work, advocacy, and revitalization of the Skyway-West Hill community.
Jeannie
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Katie Ruthenberg (she/her) is a Skyway resident and nursing student at the University of Washington. She previously worked as an environmental scientist with Snohomish County and served as the public outreach chair on the board of the nonprofit Washington State Lake Protection Association (WALPA). She is interested in strengthening neighborhoods by increasing human connections in shared spaces and caring for this land and each other.
Katie
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Michael Morales began his career with the Washington State Migrant Council, implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act and expanding services statewide. He then moved to Texas, working in transportation planning and economic development for the Rio Grande Valley Development Council and the Rio Grande Valley Empowerment Zone Corporation.
Returning to Washington, Michael served as deputy director and director of community and economic development for various jurisdictions, including the City of Yakima. There, he was the chief lobbyist, securing over $100 million in grants and loans, including a $14 million downtown revitalization project.
Michael has also worked with the cities of Federal Way and Pasco, WA, managing economic development and strategic initiatives. In Pasco, he secured $3.78 million for the downtown Pasco Market Plaza and led the creation of the city’s first commission for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, as well as the Colima-Pasco Cooperation and Friendship Agreement.
Most recently, he was an Economic Development and Recovery Manager with the King County Department of Local Services, aiding the White Center business district's recovery from fires in 2021. He facilitated financing and permitting and secured $2 million in grants for BIPOC and immigrant-owned businesses, as well as a $1 million grant for zero-interest, forgivable loans.
Michael lives in Federal Way, Washington, and owns Tonalli Development Strategies, providing municipal and organizational development services.
Michael
Rebecca
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Rebecca Zapata (she/her) is a BIPOC woman, born, raised, and lived in South Seattle most of her life. Her lifelong passion for advocacy grew from her experiences in the foster care system during adolescence. She later served as a court-appointed special advocate, supporting youth with similar challenges, which cemented her desire to help empower those most impacted, yet furthest from power.
Rebecca brings a wealth of connections and lived experiences related to Skyway’s immediate threat of displacement and gentrification. She informs and guides engagements across many communities to help ensure community voices are prioritized and centered.
After living in Skyway for over ten years, being an active volunteer, and taking on work that centers her community, she was hired as the Skyway Coalition Director. She earned a master’s degree in Public Administration and is honored to continue serving her community in this capacity.
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Kyle Blendheim is a life-long resident of Seattle currently living in Skyway with his fiancé. He graduated from Washington State University in 2020 where he acquired a BA in Strategic Communication. Some of his hobbies outside of work include: photography, walking and collecting vintage clothing and furniture. He is humbled and grateful for the opportunity to explore ways to nurture solidarity and unity for the Skyway community.
KYLE
Stewards
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Our Coalition is comprised of dozens of community leaders and individuals that share the same goal of keeping our Skyway community at the center of all we do. Our community leaders are integral and foundational in this work.
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Stewardship Partner
Akin is dedicated to helping children and families across Washington state strengthen and grow together.
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Stewardship Partner
In partnership with the Community Center for Education Results (CCER), King County, multiple other organizations, community stakeholders, and families, the Renton Innovation Zone Partnership (RIZP) was established in 2017, and the RIZP Improvement Plan was created in 2018. Their mission is to lead a relationship-More info based, data-informed collaborative network to advance racial equity and create healthy learning opportunities for all children throughout the Renton Innovation Zone.
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Partner
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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Stewardship Partner
SPEB believes our children's success depends upon strong partnerships between parents, schools, and communities.
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Stewardship Partner
Urban Family was founded by Paul and Shantel Patu who are recognized in the Greater Seattle area as youth and family intervention experts, and community leaders. They have frequently been called upon by civic and community leaders to help stabilize neighborhoods under duress, and have mitigated the influence of systemic poverty, oppression, gangs, and youth violence by providing grassroots and collaborative leadership, intervention programs, training, and consultation. Their innovative approach to problem-solving has helped many youths and their families to make life-changing decisions.
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Stewardship Partner
West Hill Community Association (WHCA) is a nonprofit organization powered by volunteers elected by the very community it works for: the Unincorporated King County, Washington neighborhoods of Bryn Mawr, Campbell Hill, Earlington, Hilltop, Lakeridge, Panorama View, Skycrest and Skyway (bordered by Renton, Tukwila, Seattle, and Lake Washington) known collectively as “West Hill”.
Partners
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Community Land Conservancy is a people of color-led land conservancy that acquires land for parks in historically underserved communities — so that our community voices are heard and centered in land use decision-making. They act as an accredited representative of marginalized communities enabling them to advocate for the simultaneous development of affordable housing and quality, public-accessible open space.
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The mission of Homestead Community Land Trust (Homestead) is to preserve and advance access to permanently affordable homeownership for lower-income people to create thriving, equitable and inclusive communities. Homestead was formed to acquire housing, protect and improve such housing for future generations of lower-income people, to lease or sell housing on an affordable basis through a resale-restricted model, and to acquire and develop land in a manner that supports the development and improvement of lower-income neighborhoods and communities.