The Economic Development Program works to create community-led, anti-displacement, and anti-racist strategies and policies to create a more equitable economy in White Center. Cultivating and amplifying Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) voices of small business owners, residents and youth are central to resisting displacement. We’re committed to holding institutions, including King County, accountable to the community. We have three parts guiding our place-based equitable economy work:

Honoring

Sustaining

Innovating

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The UCLE Work

United for a Community-Led Economy (UCLE) is dedicated to building a community-based economy in unincorporated areas, focusing on policy changes, wealth creation, and well-being within BIPOC communities. Through community-led initiatives, UCLE engages in various campaigns and programs that uplift and support residents and businesses, aiming to create lasting positive impacts.

Quynh

BOOOO, Summer's Over :(

As the summer winds down, we’re filled with pride looking back at the unforgettable moments we shared with our White Center community....

Amplifying Voices: Celebrating AANHPI Heritage at the Building CAPACD Convention

WCCDA

Amplifying Voices: Celebrating AANHPI Heritage at the Building CAPACD Convention

Recently our Economic Development team went to the Building CAPACD Convention in Chicago. Here is our Career Connector Thearina's...

Empowering Youth Through Financial Literacy: The Community E$$-cents' Journey

WCCDA

Empowering Youth Through Financial Literacy: The Community E$$-cents' Journey

The Community E$$-cents' first cohort consisted of 10 vibrant youth interns from Evergreen High School aged 16-18 years old. Over the...

Honoring Spaces

Focused on holding and expanding how our BIPOC businesses resist displacement, by sustaining and expanding our ability to stay and grow in the White Center commercial core areas (White Center Downtown, Top Hat, 8th Ave. SW).

Listening to the stories and re-telling of how BIPOC small businesses have invested in our community over decades
We identify, hold and use empty and underutilized spaces for and with community
Community shaping future development, land use, and zoning policy
- 2021 Priorities Report

honoing

Sustaining and Growing BIPOC Businesses

Our current business assistance program is one component of our place-based economic development work. Our focus has been to sustain and grow existing 1st and 2nd generation refugee and immigrant businesses.

We provide 1:1 assistance to our beloved legacy businesses (business assessment and action plans – growing connection to relevant business advisors and general counseling and coaching
The White Center Business Alliance strives to be a place of connection for our BIPOC and allied businesses, where each member can engage in business-to-business networking, community advocacy, and resource sharing
Relationship building and connecting to resources (Connecting businesses to legal commercial lease support, helping resolve tenancy issues, vandalism issues, and day-to-day business operations)
- Fire Response (see a summary video)
Connecting merchants through pandemic challenges (WCCDA distribution of Seattle Foundation grant funding, County, State, and Nationwide grant programs, National loan products, PPE distribution- Masks, hand sanitizer, COVID testing kits, vaccine verification information for businesses

sustaning

Cultivating Community-Based Innovation

The making and creating of products and services is alive and well. We provide support and mechanisms that will strengthen possibilities for neighborhood innovation. We are committed to cultivating or nurturing opportunities and passions for personal and collective investments.

Community Pop-Up Market providing space for new BIPOC entrepreneurs without storefronts
Creating Financial Empowerment education to assist business start-ups
Building a Maker-space in the HUB Development
Exploring innovative models of business ownership and operations (Commercial Land Trusts, Employee-owned Cooperatives)

innovation

Cumulative List of Work

Fire Response
Legacy Business Assistance
White Center/ North Highline Subarea Work and Community Needs List
White Center Business Alliance
White Center Pop Up

Helen Shor-Wong

Economic Development Program Manager

Helen

Born and raised in the San Francisco bay area, she currently lives in SE Seattle with her family. She brings to WCCDA many years of community organizing and economic development experience based in Oakland, California. At this point in her journey of living in the PNW, she can gladly say she has grown in her affection for Seattle’s south end and has made a home here on this Duwamish land. She sees her work with us as a way to live out values of equity and justice and a way to build deeper roots and affection for this place she calls home. Helen is grateful for the opportunity to work in White Center with an amazing group of people. She’s also looking forward to the day when she gets to wear (with pride) a t-shirt that says, “I love White Center!”

Oanh Tran

Community and Business Advocate

Oanh

Jose Ortuza

Economic Organizer: Business Support

Jose

Thearina Leng

Economic Organizer: Career Connector

Thearina

Born and raised in White Center, Thearina is a daughter of Khmer refugees, and is first generation. She studied at the University of Washington Tacoma where she majored in Ethnic Studies and minored in Education and Community Engagement. Excited to be back home, she’s ready to submerge in her passion for White Center and aid its growth! Prior to holding this role as the Economic Organizer - Career Connector, she was a Special Events Consultant for a King County project called the Youth Bill of Rights. During her free time, she enjoys reading, music, creating, and simply breaking bread with loved ones.

About Our Businesses

Coming soon!

Our Team

Our Businesses

Team