Seven weeks in Seattle have provided me with the opportunities to explore various locations in and around the city. Throughout the last few weeks, I have had the chance to travel to the beautiful Mt Rainier, a unique Bavarian style town known as Leavenworth and the hipster city of Portland. Throughout my journeys, however, two places resonated with me and both of these places are related to Bill Gates. During one Friday, a local friend and her father, who works at Microsoft, were kind enough to give me a tour in and around the stunning Microsoft campus. Microsoft, similar to a college campus in many ways, consists of modern buildings scattered in a massive area. In total, the whole campus is able to house 30 to 40 thousand employees, with over 50 cafes and large sporting facilities. The campus can easily function as its own community and with such a large number of employees, the Microsoft campus almost seemed like a medium sized township.
In the subsequent week, I had the fortune of visiting another facility deeply related to Bill Gates: the Gates foundation. As I walked into the visitor center, I was awed by the technology in place and the amount of money that Gates has put into his foundation. The visitor center showcased the various technologies that the Gates Foundation has produced to solve rampant global issues such as hunger, poverty and tuberculosis. The Foundation was a cutting edge and brilliantly engineered facility containing cafes, green plants on roof tops and contemporary art deco.
Both Microsoft and the Gates Foundation illustrated the importance of Seattle in America, and perhaps the world. With important facilities and companies based in the city, Seattle has become one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas around the globe, attracting tens of thousands of immigrants and workers per year. To put things into perspective, Seattle’s population has grown by more than 50,000 within this decade. Over the past few weeks, I have been interviewing housing experts as part of my work at Futurewise, to gain fresh perspectives into the problem of housing affordability within the region. A major factor that has caused the housing prices of Seattle to inflate rapidly is the sheer amount of tech employees moving to the city as Seattle has slowly become a more viable alternative to Silicon Valley for fresh tech start-ups. Not only has the large population influx caused a rise in housing prices as demand heats up, but also displacement of local lower-income families, contributing to a rise in homelessness within the city.
As I explore the contrasting scenes of technological innovation and homelessness in Seattle, I realized the importance of my work at Futurewise and the importance of organizations such as Futurewise. Despite the city’s commercial expansion, it is important for more non-profits such as Futurewise to be created in order to benefit the burgeoning local community. The last seven weeks in Seattle have been extremely meaningful as I was able to gain a greater understanding in working for NGOs and how they are operated. Furthermore, I was able to hear fresh perspectives in regards to the complexity of affordable housing and homelessness. Under the back drop of Puget Sound and the Cascade mountains, Seattle is a vibrant city and I have cherished every moment I spent here. With policies such as the Seattle Housing levy, the city’s capacity for innovation and a large variety of non-profits, I am hopeful that the serious issues of unaffordable housing and homelessness will be ameliorated in the future. As I leave Seattle, I only have one thought: see you again.
By: David Zheng
As I explore the contrasting scenes of technological innovation and homelessness in Seattle, I realized the importance of my work at Futurewise and the importance of organizations such as Futurewise. Despite the city’s commercial expansion, it is important for more non-profits such as Futurewise to be created in order to benefit the burgeoning local community. The last seven weeks in Seattle have been extremely meaningful as I was able to gain a greater understanding in working for NGOs and how they are operated. Furthermore, I was able to hear fresh perspectives in regards to the complexity of affordable housing and homelessness. Under the back drop of Puget Sound and the Cascade mountains, Seattle is a vibrant city and I have cherished every moment I spent here. With policies such as the Seattle Housing levy, the city’s capacity for innovation and a large variety of non-profits, I am hopeful that the serious issues of unaffordable housing and homelessness will be ameliorated in the future. As I leave Seattle, I only have one thought: see you again.
By: David Zheng