Eritrean Association in Greater Seattle

The Eritrean Association of Greater Seattle was founded in November 3, 1994 and was registered as a non-profit, membership based community organization within the State of Washington in July 1995. The Association was also recognized in 1997 by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(C)(3) entity. Most of the association's members if not all are refugees with a few immigrants, who came to America to avoid war and prosecution by the dictatorial regime of Mengistu Hailemariam of Ethiopia prior to 1991. At present it is estimated 5,000 Eritreans are residing in the Puget Sound region. They came together and formed the Eritrean Association to provide key services that were and are important to them. Since they live in a new society and culture, they needed services that will help them cope and prosper in their new adopted home while maintaining their cultural heritage. The Eritrean Association in Greater Seattle is now housed at 1528 Valentine Place South in Seattle, which was a residential house converted in to a community center by the Association. The community center is divided in to a meeting rooms, class room and activity rooms. The community center was bought by the collective efforts and resources of the members. As members participation increases and demands for services increased it became vital to increase our space, thus through the efforts and dedication of members, a 4,600 sq. ft. lot was purchased by the association.
In 2003 a new Community Center was built on the site.

This achievement was attained because of the commitment, dedication and contribution by the members of the Eritrean Association and the following generous Government and private donors.

• State of Washington Department of Community, Trade & Economic Development
• City of Seattle CDBG Grant
• City of Seattle Neighborhood Match
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Foundation
• Seattle Foundation
• Paul Allen Foundation
• Boeing Employees Community Fund
• US Bank loan

The Association enlisted the help of HomeSight, an experienced non-profit developer and a community development corporation in Central and Southwest Seattle as the project manager for the community center.



New Project for A Growing Community

Based on the success and the high use of the community center,including the house, in 2004 the Association decided to look at the feasibility of making improvements to the house, which was built in 1904.



Because it is old and has not been well maintained,
there are safety concerns. Additionally, it is a small house
and was not designed to accommodate the uses needed by the
Association. In October 2006, the association successfully secured a small matching grant from the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhood. In the spring of 2007, the Association hired the architectural firm Arai Jackson
Ellison Murakami to analyze development options with a Steering Committee
and the community at large.

The preferred option is the following space programming and conceptual design.