As gentrification intensified throughout the past decade in the Rainier Beach neighborhood in Seattle, the large Ethiopian community began to find new areas for adequate housing, but the established cultural community center could not move.
The organization, Ethiopian Community in Seattle built an affordable housing unit just above their headquarters at 8323 Rainier Ave. South, with 89 units in 2023 for low income seniors, but maintaining the entire community presence that makes the area culturally unique was unrealistic. Instead, as Ethiopian people spread out to the outskirts of the SeaTac and Snohomish county areas, ECS has started a consistent communication network with members of their community who live farther away.
While the community center’s website had information and resources to help small businesses and other community members, outreach beyond the physical space of their building has become increasingly important for ECS in the past five years.
“We serve people where they are,” said Executive Director Sophia Benalfew. “It started when COVID struck and we could no longer host community meetings here in the center.”
Instead, the leadership team began emailing health tips and hosting virtual English lessons for Ethiopians in Seattle. Now, the email list and virtual services allow Benalfew and other community leaders to cast a wide net of support across the entire metropolitan area.
Abraham Asfaw was appointed April 8, 2024 as the small business capital readiness project coordinator, but in the few weeks he’s been involved with the nonprofit his focus has been on offering services to small businesses. He has over 300 businesses in his database of contacts, and the center is extending that outreach.
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