Help create permanence and agency for East African refugee and immigrant youth and families in Othello! Take action to build the Family Empowerment Center and Community Housing below.

East African Community Services (EACS) has served East African immigrant and refugee communities for 20 years. From its early roots in naturalization and citizenship services, EACS provides East African youth and families with holistic programs and resources to adjust to life in the United States, preserve diverse cultural heritages, and participate in a broad and collectivist community life. We are honored to be in partnership with EACS, a deeply-rooted and trusted resource for the more than 75,000 East Africans in Martin Luther King Jr. County, WA.

Rising housing costs and predatory development have forced East African and other Black immigrant groups further and further south, outside of Seattle. Having experienced the harmful impacts of gentrification and displacement first-hand, EACS knows well the importance of land acquisition, ownership and agency in building and maintaining thriving communities.

Our communities deserve and demand better. We’ve spoken with a resoundingly unified voice: vacant public land must be transferred to Black community ownership now! EACS seeks to develop vacant Sound Transit Lots #6 and #12 into a Family Empowerment and Community Housing Center. The Center will address multiple needs and realize a long-held dream: a state-of-the-art, community-owned space that allows us to leverage the social, cultural, spiritual and economic strengths of the East African community for the betterment of generations to come. Visit their capital campaign here and take action to support Black land ownership below.

UPDATE: Over 5,500 direct actions and counting were taken by community members in support of EACS’ land campaign; the WA state legislature allocated $1M of funding toward EACS’ acquisition and development of the vacant parcel; and EACS is moving forward with their capital campaign! Tap in to take action below.