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ACHD Monthly Edition: Journey Home Announcement, Campfires, Career Paths, Our Youth Reaching New Heights
- African Community Housing and Development
- Aug 7
- 7 min read
Journey Home
To Our Loyal Supporters,
We invite you to join us at our second annual Journey Home Luncheon, where we will gather to celebrate our shared roots, honor the resilience of our community, and envision the thriving future we are building together.
We are honored to announce that Tony Pickett, Chief Executive Officer of Grounded Solutions Network, will be our keynote speaker for the Journey Home Luncheon 2025. A nationally recognized leader in housing equity, Tony brings decades of expertise in advancing community land trusts and creating permanently affordable housing.
Together, we’ll honor the foundations we’ve cultivated in King County’s communities and envision a future where every family can plant themselves, grow, and feel a sense of permanence.
You’ll also connect with fellow community members, celebrate our shared progress, and hear moving stories of transformation made possible by your support.
Reserve your seat today and be part of our community. By working together, we can make real change happen. Help us create the stable homes and thriving futures every family deserves.
Warmly,
The ACHD Team
Education Highlights
Camping Trips, College Visits, and Career Days
Unplugged At Camp Casey
The first of two ACHD camping trips took place from July 18th-20th at the YMCA’s Camp y Casey on Whidbey Island.
S'mores, sunsets, sing-alongs, and shoreline views—this is how ACHD does experiential learning with style. Many of the kids and parents had never been camping before.
“We have the best education team ever,” said Vice President and Co-Founder of ACHD, Bilan Aden, who attended the trip with her family. “It’s not very often you get to unplug and be in nature. It's a wonderful opportunity to get peace of mind, be in community, and create lasting memories with family.”
“Those are the things that stand out the most—intentional family time and trips. It’s good for your physical and mental health, the health of family dynamics, and healthy competition in games.”
By the end of the trip, the parents were asking for a whole other week to stay there.
“It was the best family camping trip we’ve ever had,” said Andre Ervin, Community Outreach Coordinator for ACHD’s Education Department. “It was peaceful…by the Puget Sound. You had the Olympic Mountains in the background, the beach. We watched the sun go poof behind the Olympic Mountains. The kids were singing while Gael Gallegos [ACHD’s Multimedia Specialist] played his guitar. The parents were helping out and engaged with each other.”
Students and their parents are connected to nature and history. Participants described a soulful connection between each other and the land.
We’re excited for the next camping trip, where families will be setting up their own tents and applying hands-on outdoors skills.
Small Seeds Bloom Into Ambition
Another highlight includes our middle school students’ trip to the University of Washington on July 24th.
“This is where I’m going,” said middle school student Aisha. “I have a plan to go to nursing school here. I’ll do Running Start during high school, get into community college early, then transfer here.”
A primary goal of ACHD's educators is to encourage kids to dream big about their futures, and show them that attending a renowned university like UW is not just possible, but achievable. We foster their ambition and passion, walking alongside them to reduce barriers to their dreams, and providing safe spaces to take steps on their own.
Explorers See the Open Doors, Choosing Which One to Walk Through
On Wednesday, July 23rd, ACHD hosted a career day for students. This included an in-house tabling event and presentations from local professionals including Seattle Fire Chief Harold D. Scoggins; members of the U.S. Army; thoracic vascular Nurse Luna Habte from Providence Regional Medical Center; author, game-maker, and musician Philip “Sharp Skills” Jacobs, and more.
We call our middle school program “Pathfinders”—this is intentional. Children this age are in the midst of forming their identities. Through exploration and discovery, they are realizing their passions. It is vital that our students understand that they have unlimited career paths, and that their dreams are real and accessible.
ACHD’s high school “Trailblazers” program starts summer camp in early August. ACHD is excited to see how students utilize what they’ve learned as former Pathfinders, and how they take ownership of their road to personal, academic, and professional development.
Economic Development
Partner Highlight: Building King County's Community Through Music and Roots
At ACHD, we believe in the power of community collaboration—from our partnerships with Habitat for Humanity to increase Black-led affordable housing in development to AVELA to enhance our S.T.E.A.M. curriculum, we know that lasting progress cannot be achieved alone.
Our SeaTac Farmers Market always provides live music through our partnership with The Rhapsody Project, a Seattle-based nonprofit that explores and uplifts music and heritage through the lens of antiracism, primarily with BIPOC youth.
This partnership reflects our shared mission: to bring deep, culturally rooted investment to the Greater Seattle community, especially in the lives of Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and refugee youth.
LEARN MORE About the Rhapsody Project: Full article will be available soon in the ACHD Newsroom!
PLUS
Shout out all the influencers visiting the Market—we see you and appreciate you!
Feed the Pudge IG: @feedthepudge
Traveling While Black / Anthony & Marlie Love IG: @travelwhileblk
Our Gen Z Interns!
Queen Sugar Baking Company Highlight
Rhapsody Project Highlight
Housing and Social Services
ACHD Builds Futures Through Affordable Housing Solutions
ACHD works to build a brighter future for our African Diaspora communities through our Economic Development and Education programs, but we also know that we need to meet immediate community needs. Every day, our Housing & Social Services team walks hand-in-hand with community members who face barriers to stability, helping them navigate complex systems that prevent them from getting their needs met.
Understanding housing, legal, and social service systems in the U.S. can be overwhelming for anyone, but for newly arrived immigrants, who often face language and cultural barriers, it is almost impossible to do alone.
ACHD addresses these challenges by providing strength-based, individualized support for each program participant. Funding from King County and several South King County cities supports our holistic services, and we often receive referrals from our partners at government human services departments. In June of this year, the City of SeaTac referred “A,” an immigrant from West Africa, to ACHD for help.
A young, single mother, it was just her and her 6-year-old son navigating unfamiliar public systems she had zero knowledge of.
“A” had recently enrolled in an ESL class at Highline College and from there, she began picking up other classes, soon becoming eligible for daycare.
A few months after starting classes, "A" received an eviction notice, but due to language barriers, didn’t understand what it said. When she came to ACHD for help, she carried the letter with her, a little more than two weeks after receiving it. By then, “A” was already facing an eviction process.
That two-week timeline is critical. In Washington State, tenants who fall behind on rent receive a 14-day notice to pay or vacate. If no payment or move-out happens, the landlord can file for eviction. Tenants only have days to respond before the court issues an order for them to leave, and eventually, the sheriff enforces removal.
“A” was able to connect with Asad, a Case Manager at ACHD. Through our rental assistance program, Asad helped her pay her rent. He also got her child enrolled in an after-school program and helped her feel a sense of community for the first time since arriving in the U.S.
Housing remained “A’s” main concern. Like many immigrants, she had been initially placed in a state program that provided funds to temporarily cover her rent.
But here’s the disconnect: state assistance does not account for the high cost of living in King County, even though this is the region with the most job opportunities for immigrants. For English-language-learners, it is difficult to access information about housing options, rental requirements, and tenants’ rights. “A” spoke French and didn’t understand the documents she received when she first moved into her apartment. She didn’t understand the limitations of her state rental assistance, and quickly discovered that she needed was a full-time job to pay her rent consistently. So, with Asad’s help, she started her search.
“A” was quickly able to secure a part-time job, and her classes at Highline are preparing her up for a rewarding full-time career. ACHD was able to provide rental assistance to catch her up on rent payments and avoid eviction.
For a moment, she felt more secure knowing she had a moment to breathe and a support system to fall back on.
But then her son began complaining of itchiness. He couldn’t sleep at night because he was constantly scratching himself. He had all the classic symptoms of bedbugs, but “A” had never seen anything like this.
She told Asad, who personally drove her to speak with the property manager. Asad was able to help "A" advocate for her rights to livable housing, and within two weeks, the property manager had addressed the bedbug infestation.
Without Asad’s advocacy, “A” said, she would not have understood the problem or been able to speak up for herself.
Today, "A" has a full-time job, independently pays her rent, and no longer needs our assistance. She recently texted Asad, thanking him for his help.
Notably, “A’s” story reflects a much larger reality: systemic housing challenges disproportionately push immigrants into substandard living conditions that leave them vulnerable to eviction. We see two ways to tackle this challenge. For one, our programs, driven by case managers like Asad, provide immediate, hands-on support to individuals like “A”—through our housing programs, ACHD has successfully prevented the eviction of 30 program participants since January.
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