Seattle drops race-based priorities from garden program

Seattle, Washington; September 9, 2026: The City of Seattle has eliminated race-based priority placement and a mandatory “anti-racist” pledge from its P-Patch Community Gardening Program. The change follows a demand letter Pacific Legal Foundation and public interest group Fair For All sent the city in July, arguing both practices violated the Constitution.

“I am encouraged by Seattle’s removal of race-based garden assignments from its P-Patch program,” said Andrew Quinio, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “Every Seattle resident should be able to apply for public programs without regard to race, and no one should have to sign a government-drafted statement to claim a plot in a public garden.”

Since 2020, P-Patch had moved applicants who identify as Black or African American, Indigenous or Native, and Latinx or Hispanic ahead of others on a waitlist that can run up to four years. Gardeners also had to affirm an “anti-racist” statement acknowledging that “historical and systemic barriers” had excluded certain communities from gardening before they could receive a plot.

The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods told PLF this month that it had “reevaluated certain elements” of the program and would no longer assign priority status based on race or ethnicity, or require applicants to sign the pledge.

Pacific Legal Foundation challenges government programs that sort people by race in cities and states across the country, arguing that equal protection under the law applies to everyone.