The Cascade Agenda is a collective 100-year vision for conserving Washington's remarkable landscapes in the face of a growing population and a changing economic base.

Safeco Insurance Foundation’s Signature Grants Support Cascade Land Conservancy and The Cascade Agenda

The Safeco Insurance Foundation has made a $250,000 "signature grant" to the Cascade Land Conservancy.  The grant was one of three signature grants, totaling $1.25 million, that support diversity, land conservation and educational opportunity. The grants range from $250,000 to $500,000.

The $250,000 signature grant to the Conservancy will help protect and provide stewardship to one of the Puget Sound's most precious resources, its land. The grant will help advance The Cascade Agenda, CLC's visionary approach to conserving important regional landscapes, especially important in light of the expected 3.5 million population growth in the Puget Sound in this century.

“This grant from Safeco shows the power and reach of The Cascade Agenda,” said Gene Duvernoy, Cascade Land Conservancy president.  “It is a vote of confidence from the business community that The Agenda is worth investment at the highest levels.”

Duvernoy said population growth is one of the challenges facing the region in the decade ahead as well as climate change and rising energy prices.  “Conserving working lands is one of the key strategies of The Cascade Agenda,” he said.  “Only by staying within the footprint we have already occupied and conserving the rest can we hope to achieve landscape-scale conservation.”

Other grants include $500,000 for the Seattle Community College's Power and Promise Campaign to provide full scholarship support to minority students seeking degrees in teaching and business. "Our schools have a great need for highly skilled teachers and the intention of this grant is aimed at helping Seattle Community College students manage tuition costs that come with pursuing higher education," said Virginia Anderson, president of the Safeco Insurance Foundation.

Another $500,000 grant to ArtsFund will support its campaign for the arts and fund an award for diversity within the arts in King and Pierce counties. Safeco is a founding member of ArtsFund, which now supports over 65 arts organizations ranging from Seattle Repertory Theatre to Seattle Opera and the Tacoma Art Museum.

The Cascade agenda report

The Cascade Agenda Report --a three-year progress report on the twin goals of conserving great lands, creating great communities was released at the 13th Annual Conservation Awards Breakfast May 1st.