African Community Housing & Development

Our Mission and Vision for the Future

Mission: To provide opportunities for African Diaspora immigrant and refugee communities, families, and individuals in King County to attain health and housing stability, economic development, high-quality education, and referrals to legal services.

Vision: An informed African immigrant and refugee community that is engaged in the holistic development of their families, communities, and environment.

Who is ACHD?

ACHD was established in response to community concern about the changing environment of King County - concerns about displacement, skyrocketing housing costs, substandard living conditions, and lack of economic opportunities for the African Diaspora immigrant and refugee population. In 2022 ACHD served 9,000 individuals across 55 zip codes in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties. Our program participants are immigrants, refugees, and American-born Washingtonians of African descent. Most are low-income, and many experience significant language barriers in their day-to-day life. ACHD is led by a 100% Black Board of Directors and Executive Leadership Team, uniquely positioning us to provide culturally specific and relevant programming for the African Diaspora community.

In everything we do, ACHD seeks to provide holistic solutions that address the root causes of problems, as well as the symptoms. Families in the African Diaspora immigrant and refugee communities face issues of poverty, food and housing insecurity, xenophobia, racism, and significant language barriers. By providing trauma-informed culturally-responsive wraparound services that address many different barriers to health, academic and economic achievement, and wellness, ACHD has created solutions to many of the issues facing our community. ACHD provides housing assistance, eviction prevention services, food and basic needs, advocacy and referral services, and eliminates barriers to economic opportunity through innovative community-building and problem-solving.

The solutions that ACHD create come from lived experiences; our staff is able to understand the needs of the African Diaspora immigrant and refugee community because we are that community. We speak these languages, and we've lived these stories. We are the experts in how to fix these problems precisely because we understand them so well - they are our problems too.