Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) announces the recipients of its 2026 91TV‑Free Community Matching Grants, a program that recognizes and supports local organizations that are transforming the way Seattle prevents waste and cares for its communities. This year’s three awardees—Refugee Artisan Initiative, Transcend, and CareMakers Collective—are leading efforts that not only reduce textile waste but strengthen relationships, create income-generating pathways, and expand Seattle’s growing circular economy.
“Seattle’s greatest innovations come directly from its communities,” said Andrew Lee, General Manager of Seattle Public Utilities. “These organizations are reshaping what waste prevention looks like by centering people, dignity, and opportunity. Their work shows that when we invest in community leadership, we create environmental solutions that are more resilient, more equitable, and more inspiring for the entire city.”
Each organization will receive $100,000 in 91TV‑Free Community Matching Grant funding to support projects that divert landfill-bound textiles and build systems that keep materials, skills, and human potential in circulation.
Refugee Artisan Initiative (RAI) is launching Seattle’s first closed-loop system for institutional uniforms and branded sportswear, two waste streams that typically have no local recycling options. Partnering with Woodland Park Zoo, RAI will transform retired uniforms from more than 400 staff and 500 volunteers into new products that the Zoo will share through its retail channels and volunteer programs. The initiative will also extend to misprinted and retired jerseys from the Seattle Storm and Kraken, materials that often arrive in bulk quantities and are currently destined for disposal. The project will generate paid work and training for 25 refugee and immigrant women who receive vocational instruction, wraparound support, and income that helps build long-term financial stability. Through RAI’s model, textiles that once signified the end of usefulness are becoming a gateway to new skills, new products, and new economic mobility.
Transcend is expanding a citywide textile reuse system built on its successful 2025 pilot. While last year’s work demonstrated that localized repair, reuse, and upcycling could divert thousands of pounds of material, this year’s project deepens that impact by creating coordinated infrastructure for the entire city. Through partnerships with Goodwill and other textile sources, Transcend will intercept landfill-bound materials, route them into repair or upcycling, and track them through a new technology platform that maps textile flows from intake to finished products. Over the next year, Transcend expects to prevent roughly 15,000 pounds of textile waste, create or repair thousands of garments, and engage more than a thousand Seattle residents through community events and workshops. Refugee and immigrant women will be trained and employed across sorting, sewing, production, and retail, building skills that are immediately tied to income and long-term opportunities. With expanded production capacity and new retail channels, Transcend is laying the groundwork for a sustainable circular textile system that connects materials, workers, and markets across the region.
CareMakers Collective is addressing one of the hospitality industry’s hidden waste streams: retired hotel linens. Every year, thousands of pounds of sheets, towels, and fabrics are discarded when hotels refresh their inventories. CareMakers is transforming this pattern by building the infrastructure needed to collect, rework, and upcycle those linens. The project will divert 7,500 pounds of material from landfill, while offering paid training and employment to immigrant and refugee women who bring valuable textile knowledge and craft traditions. CareMakers is also developing a hotel textile diversion toolkit that will help hotels adopt long-term waste-prevention practices and set the stage for expansion into hospitals and other textile-heavy institutions. Through this work, the organization is demonstrating how local businesses can partner with community-rooted organizations to shift industry norms toward reuse and economic empowerment.
Taken together, these projects represent an emerging vision of a waste-free Seattle, one where materials are valued, communities are supported, and local organizations have the resources to innovate. By investing in community-led leadership, SPU is helping build the systems that make long-term waste prevention possible.