White Center Today
White Center is an extremely diverse working class community located in unincorporated King County, adjacent to the city of Seattle and just north of the city of Burien. Of the 22,000+ residents in the neighborhood, 50% are people of color; one in five residents is Asian American and one in ten is Latino. The four largest groups are Asian and Pacific Islanders with large populations from Vietnam, Cambodia and Samoa; Latinos from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, East Africans from Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea; and Eastern Europeans from Russia, Bosnia and the Ukraine. The percentage of people of color in White Center is greather than in King County as a whole (25%) or the city of Seattle (32%). One-third of all people in White Center speak a language other than English; namely Vietnamese, Spanish and Cambodian. Students in the Highline School District speak 48 primary languages.
The commercial district is extremely diverse with the majority of White Center businesses owned by immigrants from Southeast Asia. White Center’s downtown business district is comprised of approximately 137 businesses in a 9 block area, centered primarily on 16th Avenue SW. Our changing business district truly reflects the community diversity: a Mexican tortilla factory, chocolate specialty shop, a Vietnamese pho soup restaurant, Salvadorian bakery, and Cambodian grocery store all call downtown White Center home.
In 2003-2004, with a $35 million dollar federal grant and an additional $200 million dollars of public and private funds, King County Housing Authority, is developing a mixed-income community of 900 to 1100 homes. The new site is named Greenbridge and will be ready for occupancy in 2007.
In 2006, the local community celebrated completion of new sidewalks and public art project in the White Center Business District. The sidewalks incorporate artistic metal inlays designed by the Teens Creating Tomorrow Youth Council in partnership with a professional artist. The metal inlays were selected by the youth to represent the diversity of the White Center community and include the word "welcome" in over 45 languages and art pieces that look like coins from throughout the world.
The $1.1 million sidewalk improvement is a component of King County's White Center Community Enhancement Initiative announced by Executive Sims and Councilmember Constantine in September 2005. The initiative includes nearly $15 million of new actions and investments to create a more walkable, safe environment for residents; encourage private commercial and residential investment, and increase public safety.