El Centro De La Raza

I speak for both us (Mango not included) when I say that El Centro De La Raza, which roughly translates to "The Center for People of All Races", was one of the most fascinating and interesting places we visited in Seattle.

In 1972, The Seattle Public School District was ready to demolish an abandoned elementary school when activists, including church organizations and children, peacefully entered and occupied the building. The three month occupation resulted in victory and the building was leased to El Centro De La Raza for one dollar a year. In later years, after a lot of fundraising efforts, El Centro was able to buy the building outright.

For 37 years El Centro has served and empowered all sections of the community, regardless of race, sex, financial status, or any other difference. El Centro has been dedicated in the fight against the inequalities and injustices of our world by building community.

El Centro offers broad, effective services and advocacy: they provide Education and Skill Building Programs - which empower and provide the community with self-sufficiency and Human and Emergency Services - which address immediate needs of the members of the community including healthcare, hunger, and homelessness. El Centro also invests in the future and community by providing an array of Child and Youth Programs.

We were lucky enough to be able to check out El Centro and join them for breakfast and coffee. We were able to meet the people that ran El Centro, the people that volunteered there and the people that wanted to get involved. After breakfast, we toured the building. On one of the stairwells of the building was a wall called, "Elders of Our Community," which had pictures and quotations from the senior figures that were important to the people at El Centro. What a great way to celebrate your community! At 8:45 in the morning there was a long line ready to enter the Food Bank that is open on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of each week and we recognized some of the people who were on that wall, inside, helping to organize food. El Centro truly serves it's community.

Some of the students of El Centro. So Cute!


A mural painted by Daniel DeSiga during the occupation of El Centro, without lights, electricity, or running water. The mural was restored on their 25th anniversary of El Centro. Originally, the mural had men's faces, but they were changed to women's faces during the restoration because DeSiga wanted to depict the strong female leadership of El Centro.

We would love to spend more time at El Centro de La Raza and meet more of the people that are contributing to this community.