The St. Paul-based Northwest Area Foundation has announced that it will award $10.2 million over ten years to the Central South King County (WA) Venture in support of the partnership's poverty-reduction initiatives in several communities.

They include the communities of Burien, Renton, SeaTac, Skyway/West Hill, and Tukwila, where CSKCV will work to identify the conditions that create poverty, attract investments and forge collaborations, and address poverty at its roots. The partnership developed its vision and strategic plan — will be published in thirteen languages, including Bosnian, Cambodian, Chinese, Serbian, Spanish, and Swahili — over nearly four years with the involvement of residents, nonprofit service providers, and business and civic leaders from across the area.

"We believe a community has a greater chance of reducing poverty if it develops and owns its comprehensive initiatives," said NAF president and CEO Karl Stauber. "The five communities that form Central South King County Venture worked together to develop a unified vision and long-term plan that addresses the many systems that affect people in poverty in its communities. We are excited to link arms with them in this effort."

A primary goal of the foundation is to aggregate lessons learned and share them with other communities striving to reduce poverty for the long term. To that end, the foundation has established similar partnerships in Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, and South Dakota, and is exploring five others.