About Central Area Senior Center

The Central Area Senior Center (CASC), aka (The Central), legacy of community service began in 1968 when African American civic activists observed that the Central District needed a place for our elders to meet and socialize. They leased the empty property at 500 30th Avenue South and petitioned the City to support this vital community need. The City responded. In 1975, Mayor Wes Uhlman used money supported by Washington’s voters to buy the property and lease it to The Central. He wrote in a letter to the City Council that this purchase would establish a “permanent home” for The Central.

From our beginnings, we knew The Central would be a place of support, community, fellowship, and celebration. That is still our purpose, and we intend to hold onto it long into the future.

Beginning in 2014, with fresh and determined leadership, The Central launched a drive for full self-determination and petitioned the City Council in 2018 for ownership of the building and property. The City Council responded with a Resolution to do just that. The community showed up in force to demand the Council approve the transfer. Letters poured into the Council and the Mayor’s office in support as well. CASC supporters really showed their commitment when The Central had to raise $55,000 in a single week to meet a City deadline. The members and community raised over $106,000 in that week. It took two more years of additional advocacy efforts on the part of the members, community, and friends, however, in the era of Black Lives Matter, the Mayor agreed to transfer the title to us. At the end of 2020, the City Council passed an ordinance, which Mayor Durkan signed, transferring the property deed to us on December 15, 2020.

CASC engages and enriches the communities of mature and older adults in Seattle’s Central District and the African American elder population throughout the Pacific Northwest through programs and opportunities that help people live rich, healthy, and fulfilling lives as they age surrounded by a beautiful setting and in a culturally diverse and fun environment.

Our mission is to infuse warm friendships, healthy activities, and joyful experiences into the lives of mature adults.

Activities include exercise programs, computer classes, card games and clubs, dance classes, recreational trips, food, fun, laughter and much more.

CASC also serves as a neighborhood gathering place for non-profit, civic, and social organizations. A rich diversity of neighborhood groups and individuals access the center daily. They come to participate in community meetings, attend wedding receptions, birthday parties, Green Dolphin Lounge, extraordinary events and to hear from the Mayor or a City Council member at a Candidates Forum, a Leschi Community Council meeting and/or a Seattle Central Area Neighborhood District meeting. On any given day reflected at the center is the rich diversity, of age, race, class, culture, gender, and diversity of thought. As a community gathering place, CASC engage, serve, and bridge the gaps of the historical founders of the center and that of new and emerging communities while celebrating what each one brings to a changing

Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes,

and each one of us in every generation must do our part. — John Lewis

community landscape.

Café Central, CASC’s in house-kitchen, serves hot meals, cooked from scratch five days per week. On Soul Food Tuesday’s members and guest delight in an assortment of traditional Soul Food Cuisine. At monthly Birthday Lunches those celebrating birthdays eat free, select a gift of choice, and can dance to 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s R & B, Jazz, and Party Blues by Mr. Cliff Productions.