Resilience District Advisory Group Members

Andrew Schiffer

Edwin Hernández

My name is Edwin Hernandez and I was born in Peru. I studied engineering and that is why I am fascinated by developing infrastructure projects. In 2017 he formed the community organization Duwamish Valley Sustainability Association (DVSA) and since then he has worked with young people in the Duwamish Valley where we train them in topics related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). We have been developing sustainable projects with them in favor of our community. I feel very excited to be part of the "Resilience District Advisory Group" since it allows me to continue learning, exchange ideas with professionals and community leaders and best of all, continue working in favor of my community.

Jessica Miller

Jessica lives in South Park with her family where she values connecting with her neighbors and spending time exploring the Duwamish River with the Duwamish Rowing Club. She leverages her professional experience as an architect supporting the community on projects and planning initiatives in the neighborhood, including the newly renovated Duwamish Waterway Park. Jessica sees the advisory group as an opportunity to connect the community’s dynamic interests with public agencies to develop creative approaches that remedy historic injustices amplified by decades of pollution, disinvestment, and climate change.

Justin Howell

Justin is a Georgetown resident of almost 20 years. He has participated at many levels on many issues to improve life and livability for the human and non-human residents of the Duwamish Valley. He is also the owner of a local ecological restoration firm that has worked for habitat improvements and forest health on hundreds of acres of open space here. Lastly, he has a passion for recreation on, around and in the Duwamish River. You can find him most days biking or boating trying to find something new to love about this beautiful and unique part of Seattle.

Community-based Organization representative

Ani Jayakaran

Ani Jayakaran (he/him) is a Professor at Washington State University at the Puyallup Research and Extension Center. He is faculty in WSU Extension and affiliated with the School of the Environment and the Department of Biological Systems Engineering. His role is to meet education and research needs in a region experiencing the impacts of rapid urbanization, a changing climate, and increasingly diverse communities. He develops strategies to manage water resources using Green Stormwater Infrastructure and ecological engineering principles. Ani’s program aims to positively influence stormwater management decisions that impact traditionally underserved Black, and Indigenous communities, people of color, and lower-income groups. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Civil Engineering, a doctoral degree in Agricultural & Biological Engineering, and is a professionally licensed civil engineer in Washington and South Carolina.

Crystal Brown

Crystal Brown lives and works in South Park, Seattle. She loves airplanes, Lego and animals. She is part of an amazing team that focuses on community work through healthy food access and the arts. She is excited to support the Resilience District Advisory Group to put people, animals and environment first.

Ken Workman

Ken Workman is an enrolled member of the Duwamish Tribe, 5th generation Great-Grandson of Chief Seattle. His leadership with the Duwamish Tribe and community work includes serving as a Tribal Council member for the Duwamish Tribe’s governmental entity (now ex-officio Tribal Council member); former president of the Duwamish Tribal Services, the nonprofit arm of the tribe; and board service with the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition and Southwest Seattle Historical Society. Ken is now retired from having had a long career at The Boeing Company’s Flight Operations Engineering Group, where he worked as a Systems and Data Analyst. He now enjoys retirement during which he takes long walks in the mountains east of Seattle where he lives on a river.

Paulina López

Paulina currently serves as the Executive Director of the Duwamish River Community Coalition (DRCC). She has over 30 years of experience working on issues of civil rights, social environmental justice, equity, education and diversity. Paulina is keenly in tune with the strengths and challenges of this community as it moves toward environmental health and social and climate justice. Paulina highly regarded organizer, facilitator, community and policy strategist, movement builder focused on building systems of power and shifting power outward to those most impacted by injustice and oppression. Paulina has developed expertise in multi-sector stakeholder engagement, networks, collaborative problem solving, and building power with BIPOC communities of color, immigrants, and refugees. Paulina emigrated to the U.S. from Ecuador and has made Seattle her home for the past 18 years. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights Law from St. Thomas University.

Robin Schwartz

Robin was born and raised on Capitol Hill in Seattle and has lived in South Park for 17 years. She has been involved in various community organizations for almost as long, beginning with South Park Neighborhood Association in 2008 and currently including Concord PTA, Duwamish Valley Affordable Housing Coalition, and Reconnect South Park. She has worked at the Duwamish River Community Coalition since 2017. She is looking forward to working on the Resilience District Advisory Group because she is always curious about ways to make the Duwamish Valley a better place to live for her family and neighbors.

Sam Farrazaino

Samuel Farrazaino is the founder and lunatic emcee of Equinox Studios, a fierce advocate for the creation and preservation of arts and cultural spaces to bring people into relationship and support the communities that sustain those spaces, a sculptor of intimate and immense interactive multimedia people and place experiences, a disruptive urban interventionist, and a community development fanatic. Creating tangible ways for our neighborhoods to thrive for the next generations is what's exciting about collaborating with community on this Resilience District Advisory Group.

Susan Davis

I'm grateful to be a resident of South Park, where I am currently a board member with South Park Neighborhood Association. My work-for-pay is in capacity-building for nonprofits. I value community and the environment, which is why I'm serving on the Resilience District Advisory Group.

Tim Neill

I was born and raised in Ballard, WA and moved to the Duwamish Valley in 2020. I love living in the Northwest and am excited to contribute to creating a healthier, inclusive and future-thinking Seattle. Outside of the Advisory Group, I can be found cycling, walking my dog Hank or writing for the Georgetown Gazette!

Industrial Business representative