Byrd Barr Place was born in the 1960’s from the recognition that the poor Black neighborhoods of Seattle were chronically under-served by existing services. Our founders within Seattle’s Black community, then based in the Central District, were guided by a vision of equal access to resources and a determination to take bold and transformative action. Our agency, then named the Central Area Motivation Program, was part of the first generation of community-inspired organizations funded by the Economic Opportunity Act. For more than 55 years, Byrd Barr Place has been a community leader and advocate in the fight against the effects of racism and segregation on the region’s African Americans. We continue to be instrumental in combating racial inequity and poverty throughout Seattle by providing an integrated array of basic needs and nutritional services, education resources and financial assistance.