Creative Cafe Provides Job Opportunities for Youth and Intergenerational Space for Black Artists

by Jas Keimig

Amidst all the restaurants popping up in the South End, another excellent, community-centered coffee joint is joining the roster. Just in time for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and located on the first floor of Washington Hall, the doors of Creative Cafe are swinging open to welcome in residents of the Central District.

The project is the result of a partnership between Creative Justice, an arts-based healing restorative justice organization, and Black Power Unlimited, an organization dedicated to uplifting Seattle's Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities and maintaining Washington Hall. In addition to coffee and creating job training opportunities for kids impacted by the criminal justice system, the youth-stewarded Creative Cafe will also serve as an intergenerational space for artists and cultural workers from the Black and African diaspora to come together through open mics, workshops, and events.

"We see ourselves as part of an ecosystem of arts and culture organizations, buildings, and historic spaces trying to hold real-life space for Black and Indigenous arts and cultural workers," said Creative Justice Executive Director Nikkita Oliver, pointing to the caf's proximity to places like Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, Wa Na Wari, and Africatown. "We want to continue to have space to connect and meet up in the historically Black Central District."

Creative Cafe will be primarily staffed by the youth involved with Creative Justice, who will be serving espresso from Fulcrum Coffee Roasters and getting guidance from Blas Alfaro of Fulcrum and Luis Rodriguez of The Station. The staff will not only be trained on how to be baristas but will learn the ins and outs of different facets of the coffee industry, everything from how to ethically source and roast beans to how to fix espresso machines. In addition to on-the-job training, youth will also learn from a labor rights curriculum so that regardless of where they go after Creative Cafe, they'll know how to advocate for their workers' rights.

"We'll be building pipelines into other QTBIPOC organizations so when they finish with us, they can be hired there," said Oliver. "Our goal is to be more than a barista job. It is to make sure young people have skills that they can do anything in the coffee industry and have a network and partners."

The space has long been a site of community building. Back in 2018, Washington Hall anchor tenant Black Power Unlimited (BPU) opened the Cypher Cafe as a vision from organizers Gabriel Teodros and the late Rahwa Habte to stand against gentrification in the CD and create space for liberation work. While the spot was an active hub for organizing and culture, when the pandemic started two years later, the Cypher Cafe took a hit and eventually shuttered in 2020, leaving that space vacant.

After a shooting outside a Washington Hall concert in 2022, Oliver said a group of Central District elders expressed interest in the caf coming back as a way of building community and bringing more intergenerational spaces to the historic venue. At the same time, the youth involved with Creative Justice — whose offices are located in Washington Hall — expressed interest in the caf's return as a chance to hone their career opportunities. Thus, conversations began between Creative Justice and BPU, and a partnership emerged as a way to pay tribute to Habte's work and continue the spirit of the original Cypher Cafe project.

"We decided that for Creative Justice and BPU to partner more deeply would actually benefit both of us," said Oliver. "[Creative Justice] would be able to provide opportunities for young people in the coffee industry, and [BPU] would have the support of a larger arts and culture organization to help make sure that the venue would thrive."

After years of getting the details together and updating the space, Creative Justice and BPU are finally opening Creative Cafe to the public on Monday, Jan. 15, as part of the neighborhood's Martin Luther King Jr Day celebrations. After the MLK rally and march, Creative Cafe invites the community to come through Washington Hall to pick up a latte and listen to Teodros speak about Habte's activist legacy and enjoy a youth open mic.

Creative Cafe's grand opening celebration starts at 4 p.m. on Jan. 15. There will be coffee, food, sweets, and an open mic. Learn more about the event over on Creative Justice's Instagram page.

📸 Featured Image: Creative Justice Executive Director Nikkita Oliver (right) and Blas Alfaro of Fulcrum Coffee Roasters inside the new Creative Cafe at Washington Hall. (Photo courtesy of Creative Justice.)