El Centro de la Raza

[3] In the early 1960s thousands of Latinos in Seattle, nearly all of whom were seeking employment, found themselves lacking a traditional community center: a barrio, with a Latin American-style plaza.

[4] Inspired by the 1970 occupation by Native Americans of the decommissioned Fort Lawton in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood, which resulted in the founding of the Daybreak Star Cultural Center, members of the ESL program occupied an empty school building originally built in 1904 in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood that had been closed due to declining student enrollment.

Leaders of the building takeover quickly won a pledge from Seattle Public Schools superintendent Forbes Bottomly that no effort would be made to evict them by force.

[6] After three months of occupying the building and numerous rallies, petitions and letters, the Seattle City Council agreed to hear their case.

The people who occupied the building joked that they were simply implementing advice from Washington governor Dan Evans, "advocating use of empty schools for community needs, such as child care".

[7] Cofounder Roberto Maestas, executive director until 2009, worked with community leaders Larry Gossett, Bob Santos, and Bernie Whitebear, also known as the Gang of Four as they established a unique ethnic alliance that lead to the founding of El Centro de la Raza.

[10] In 2015 El Centro de la Raza built moderately priced apartments south of its main building – 110 units, home to about 350 people.