Days before young people in the Central District visit neighborhood houses to collect Halloween candy, they'll have a chance to say what they'd like to see in a proposed affordable housing development coming to the neighborhood.
On Oct. 29, Africatown Community Land Trust (ACLT) will host a youth-centered event at Pratt Park to get community input on plans to renovate the building at 1601 E. Yesler Way into affordable housing. Central District residents and youth are invited to enjoy free food and live performances as they provide suggestions on how the space can best serve the needs and interests of the area's Black youth. There will also be a winter coat giveaway.
K. Wyking Garrett, president and CEO of ACLT, said the event will provide young people an opportunity to become active in shaping what happens. "It's an intersection of lifting up the positive culture in our community and inspiring more young people to access opportunities for that, as well as designing the future and engaging young people's ideas around how to design a community where young people are safe and able to grow and thrive," Garrett said.
The space, currently the BENU Community Home, is a low-barrier shelter that serves adult men. ACLT hopes to redevelop the building into affordable housing. The Pratt Park event will serve as a Yesler Design Day, one in a series of public meetings ACLT has facilitated to involve the community in the building's design process.
ACLT acquired 1601 E. Yesler Way in 2021, and since December of that year, the building has provided up to 150 beds of transitional housing for hundreds of individuals. Along with those beds, the shelter provides 24-hour security, a parking garage, dining hall, activity room, and a barbershop.
"We have identified nearly 30 Black legacy assets along Yesler," said Garrett, "and all these opportunities that are already happening in various ways through public and private investments that maximize the impact in our collective goal of [building] a better neighborhood and community."
Earlier this year during its annual State of Africatown presentation, ACLT announced plans to continue development in the Yesler corridor after securing funding from Washington state, King County, and the city of Seattle. Philanthropic sources also donated money. At this point, projected renovation costs are still to be determined.
"We've always been a community-first developer that has also valued youth voices and participation in our design process. We've done events — a few of them Minecraft-themed — to have young people engaged. We've done design days, camps, and so this is just an extension of our commitment to developing our vision of a vibrant and thriving Black community in the Central District in Seattle," said Garrett.
ACLT's attempts to engage young people in the design process for the redevelopment of 1601 E. Yesler Way will not stop at Pratt Park. According to Garrett, ACLT will continue to seek input from the young people of the Central District as the project moves forward.
"The corridor creates a much greater opportunity for young people to identify the things that are needed in the community, learn about things that may already be in the community," he said, "and share their ideas and vision for how those things can be better."
Youth Pop-Up and Community Design Input at Pratt Park
Pratt Park, 201 20th Ave. S.
Oct. 29, 4–7 p.m.
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