(Letter to our congregation from Mary Flowers….)
Please share information about the Africatown Community Home at Keiro with members of the Japanese Congregational Church. There will be a series of virtual meetings that will provide neighbors an opportunity to engage in a 3 part series to co-design a successful project and to answer questions about the project. The 3 part series will be offered virtually for COVID-safety and an open house will be held Oct. 14th at the Keiro Building. COVID safety practices will be followed. Thank you for any assistance you can provide to share this information. Please contact me if you would like a PDF version of the information in this section.
Mary Flowers
Sr. Grants & Contracts Specialist
Homeless Strategy and Investments Division
City of Seattle, Human Services Department
Email: mary,flowers@seattle.gov
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Africatown Community Land Trust & City of Seattle
Opening Community Home for
Unsheltered Community Members
Keiro Building 1607 Yesler Way, Seattle 98122
Anticipated Opening – Mid October 2021
Africatown Community Land Trust (ACLT) is partnering with the City of Seattle to address the system-wide challenge of unsheltered community members. ACLT’s program design is focused on the cultural, social, and emotional strengths and practices of African American people. Guests of the program will be welcomed into an environment offering opportunities to participate in moving into the vision for a thriving, healthy and just neighborhood and community.
ACLT will provide a safe and respectful space for people to stabilize, access health, recreation, education, employment, and housing resources and participate in co-creating a community hub that promotes brilliance and creativity. Guests will be involved in an ongoing process with community to grow in understanding and respect for the history of the Central Area community, including the Keiro facility and Japanese culture, the experience of Indigenous Duwamish people and the ways in which other groups came to subsequently occupy this community.
About Community Home at Keiro
• 24-hour operation • Good Neighbor practices
• Case Management • Cultural & Behavioral Health Services
• Male identifying adults • Access to Employment Opportunities
• Housing Navigation • Social and Recreational Activities
• 24-hour on-site security • Public Health Partnership
The Community Home at Keiro will be located in the Keiro Building, a facility created in 1986 by the Japanese community for the care of Japanese elders. The building was sold to developers in 2019 who planned to build market-rate housing on the site. ACLT’s intention is for the property is to ensure that groups who experienced racial redlining and displacement have opportunity to remain or return to the community.
Through mutual adherence to the City of Seattle’s Community Good Neighbor expectations, ACLT will provide program operation in a safe and respectful manner and will develop a process for community engagement and communication to address neighborhood concerns effectively.
ACLT and the City of Seattle are eager to engage with community to provide more detail, address questions, solicit ideas and suggestions and build relationship. ACLT has scheduled a three-part virtual meeting series. An in-person Open House is scheduled October 14th. CDC guidelines will be followed, including requiring masks, safe distancing, and other Public Health recommended practices.
We invite community members to join us in codesigning our strategy for success in a three-part series (encouraged to attend all sessions):
Introduction: Thursday, September 16, 2021 6-8 PM
Considerations: Thursday, September 23, 2021 6-8 PM
Tactics and Solutions: Thursday, September 30, 2021 6-8 PM
Open House Thursday, October 14, 2021, at Community Home at Keiro
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
To Register: https://bit.ly/3E5j7B5
QUESTIONS? CONTACT:
Kevin Mundt-City of Seattle, Human Services Department
homelessness@seattle.gov
Japanese Congregational Church 