Shefali Ranganathan, photographed by the University of Washington Link station on September 5, is helping to transform how Seattleites get around

Jeffery Lew, seen here at Seattle World School, led the charge to erase school lunch debt among students in Seattle—and across the state.

When Andrew Russell, Intiman Theatre’s artistic director, took the reins of the debt-ridden, Tony Award–winning Seattle theater institution—just after it cancelled its 2011 season and laid off its entire staff—the then 28-year-old faced an enormous question: “How do you heal a community and re-create a theater company in Seattle?” he says.  He turned to producer…

Climate champ Jay Inslee

The work of artist Inye Wokoma, seen here outside his Central District home, often focuses on gentrification.

Last october, when Matt Remle suggested to Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant that the city close its accounts with Wells Fargo—a bank that provided key financing to the Dakota Access Pipeline—divestment was a word more often associated with the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s, not a battle over land, water and civil rights in…

Paul Allen’s brought many artists and musicians to Seattle as part of his Seattle Art Fair and Upstream Music Fest.

As executive director of the climate justice organization Got Green, Jill Mangaliman, a queer, Filipino-American community organizer, is a leader in Seattle’s growing drive for climate justice, a branch of the environmental movement focused on ending environmental racism and giving low-income people and people of color a say in policy decisions that impact their communities. …

She doesn’t ride a white horse or wear a badge, but Patty Hayes, R.N., M.N., is the closest thing King County has to a sheriff for health, trying to protect more than 2 million county residents. The director of Public Health–Seattle & King County since 2015, Hayes, along with her team, shields residents from the…

Brad Finegood gets a little emotional when talking about the opioid epidemic—and with good reason. His brother, whom he describes as a “good kid” whose struggles with drug addiction started in college, died of an overdose several years ago. Finegood, an addiction counselor who started out working with clients in the criminal justice system, began…

Jorge Barón (left) and Carlos Rodriguez, both fighting for immigrant rights, photographed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The words of justice exhibit at Harvard Law School includes a quote from the Quran calling on believers to stand as witnesses for justice. For Aneelah Afzali, a 2003 Harvard Law graduate, these words not only reinforce the responsibility that comes with her faith, but also serve as a reminder of the many ways that…

From left: Fighting for justice, accountability and equal opportunity, Dominique Davis, Nikkita Oliver and Anne Levinson with the King County Jail in the background.