Thanks to the organization’s first federal grant, our Gender-Based Violence Support Program was able to establish a 24/7 hotline. Those experiencing violence in the home or in a relationship can now Atlantic Street Center any day and time, and they will be connected to someone who is equipped to provide support and next steps.
The Early Learning Program expands two-fold! It is now able to offer its services to families in need all year long. Early Learning Specialists can visit with children and their adults during the summer, not just during the school year. In addition, the program now provides access to a medical professional so that families to ensure their young children are hitting important physical milestones. This means that more families can receive expanded much-needed services to help their children be on the same playing field as their more affluent peers.
ASC is able to bring back some in-person events, including the annual gala. 2022’s Embrace, Build & Advance Gala was the agency’s first in-person gala in nearly three years. The organizations also celebrates its seventh year of the CoRe gaming initiative, a segment of the Behavioral Health Program that helps young people grow their interpersonal and communication skills through video games.
In May of 2021, Dr. Pela Terry, Ed.D. is selected as Atlantic Street Center’s newest Executive Director. She arrives at ASC with thirty years of professional experience having worked in both the mid-west and the east coast. Under her first year of leadership, she establishes the Being an Anti-Racist Organization (BARO) Group, a makeup of ASC colleagues that spearhead agency-wide anti-racist roundtables and educational opportunities.
As the COVID-19 pandemic causes immense hardship for our community, ASC successfully moves all its services to virtual or socially-distanced platforms. In July 2020, long-time ASC supporter and former Board Member Terry Pottmeyer, J.D., assumes the role of Interim Executive Director while the Board conducts a nation-wide search for a new leader who can help ASC recommit to its mission and anti-racist goals as an organization. In May 2021, they find that leader in Dr. Pela S. Terry, who comes to ASC with decades of experience in nonprofit management and social justice in New York State.
Rising rents and a massive population influx have pushed marginalized families to the southern parts of the Seattle area. ASC follows the lead of the communities it serves and expands services into South King County and North Pierce County by opening a new office in Kent. This year also sees the addition of a new team: a dedicated Gender-Based Violence staff offering advocacy and therapeutic services specifically tailored to survivors of a wide variety of abuse and violence.
Edith C. Elion retires after 40 years at ASC and Someireh Amirfaiz is selected as the new Executive Director. She comes to ASC following a very successful twelve-year tenure at local non-profit Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA).
ASC becomes the first agency in Western Washington to offer the nationally organized ParentChild+ (formerly Parent Child Home Program), which provides high-risk families with educational support for young children, giving them new books and toys, and sending trained staff to help parents teach their children in the home.
25-year ASC veteran Edith C. Elion, MSW, is appointed Executive Director, after starting as a Mental Health Therapist in 1977, and becoming Associate Director in 1988. She is the first African-American director of the organization.
ASC, in collaboration with the Rainier Beach Community Center, holds its first Juneteenth celebration in honor of the abolition of slavery. This event becomes a cornerstone of the agency’s programming every year, gathering the local African American community in a celebration of heritage and history.