The West Seattle Junction Association and West Seattle Chamber of Commerce applied for and have received a $20,000 grant help with marketing and in the words of Lora Swift answer the question, "Who is West Seattle now?"

Swift, Executive Director of the West Seattle Junction Merchants Association said she and Chamber CEO Lynn Dennis applied for a grant to move all West Seattle businesses in the right direction by getting some research done. Swift took over the job from Susan Melrose last summer, selling her Hotwire Online Coffeehouse to take the new job.

"The purpose is to begin the groundwork conversations between our business districts, to look for the commonality and what the scalability is for West Seattle," said Swift, "So we have a common, unified voice.

Grants offered by a partnership between the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development (OED), the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods (DON), and the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture (OAC) totalling approximately $1,400,000 were made available for the Only in Seattle Initiative in 2017.

The Initiative provides grant funding and staff support to foster inclusive neighborhood business districts that allow small businesses to grow and flourish. The Initiative focuses on supporting small businesses and property owners to organize around a common vision for their district and attract investment.

This means that focus groups, and other research tools will be be organized to help local businesses focus with higher clarity on what people in our community want from local business. Swift said she plans to develop the research plan with local firms in the near future.