“I never paid any attention to this space until I was asked to get involved,” says Ian Whiting of the humble garden plot in Uptown’s Sunnyside Mall, adopted in 2016 by students at Courtenay Elementary’s Budding Gardeners program. Ian was one of several enthusiastic Uptown residents representing their neighborhood gardens during ICA’s Third Annual Uptown Garden Walk earlier this month. ​

ICA completed Out and About Uptown’s Coast, a year-long coastal education series focusing on our home community of Uptown, earlier this year. The series focused on increasing awareness, access, and stewardship of the coastal zone. The project team used ICA’s Imaginal Education theory and tools to design an transformative education series tailored to residents, workers, and visitors in the Uptown community.​

ICA’s current community programs work at the intersection of environmental and social justice. Our programs also aim to support and showcase other organizations and individuals who are working on transforming our current inequitable systems. ICA launched a new event series called Conversations of Social Justice, which highlights local resource organizations so that Uptown residents and workers have the opportunity to further connect regarding services, partnerships, and volunteer opportunities.

On March 31st, 2018, ICA and the Uptown Coastal Initiative hosted the eighth installment of the Out and About Uptown’s Coast series, Eco-Justice: An Expansive View.​ The session started with a collective unpacking of the term “eco-justice.” ​ ​Attendees brainstormed words associated with “eco” and “justice” and new associations that stood out. The ideas that deepened understanding of eco-justice were balance, wisdom, equity, and reciprocal relationship.