Honoring Black Excellence, Building Community for the Next 150 Years

Last updated: February 2, 2026, at 9:57 a.m. PT

Originally published: February 2, 2026, at 9:48 a.m. PT

Honor, Reflect, Celebrate, Black History Month

Celebrating Black History Month and renewing our commitment to belonging, connection, and community for generations to come.

Black History Month invites our community to celebrate Black excellence, creativity, leadership, and joy. While Black excellence deserves recognition every month, Black History Month gives us a shared moment to reflect, learn, and recommit. 

For the YMCA of Greater Seattle, that reflection carries special meaning as we celebrate 150 Years for All. This milestone is an opportunity to look back at all that we have accomplished together and to look ahead with excitement and commitment to building belonging, connection, and community for all for the next 150 years. 

Black history and the YMCA story 

The YMCA’s mission is about people and creating spaces where youth discover who they are, families find support, and neighbors find connection and build community for all with dignity and care. 

The Y’s rich legacy and mission have been at work at the Meredith Mathews East Madison YMCA since its founding in 1936. Located at the cultural and geographic heart of Seattle’s Central District, this branch has been ahead of its time serving as a welcoming place of belonging and connection for all, including those who were pushed to the margins. 

During World War II, the branch became home to the Colman Servicemen’s Club, dedicated on July 10, 1942. The club was created because Black service personnel were often denied access to other recreation spaces, and Y leaders helped ensure there was still a welcoming place for all to gather, be appreciated, and find community.

That welcoming legacy still guides us today: responding to local need and strengthening community for all through connection and belonging. 

This legacy focus on community showed up again in 1966, when educator and civil rights leader Roberta Byrd Barr led the Freedom School at the YMCA during a Seattle-wide school boycott protesting the lack of progress toward desegregation. In a moment that asked a great deal of families and students, the Y helped provide a place where young people could keep learning, feel supported, and stay connected to the community.

150 years of service for all, shaped by Black leadership 

Throughout our history, Black leadership has strengthened the YMCA of Greater Seattle in visible as well as quiet, steady ways.  The impact of Black leaders can be seen in spaces that were expanded to inclusively serve more neighbors, in governance that kept our mission in focus, and in mentorship that opened doors for those often on the outside looking in. 

In the late 1950s and 1960s, Meredith Mathews helped lead the East Madison YMCA through growth and renewal, including a successful capital campaign, expanding the Y’s programs and services being offered in community and opening doors to possibility in the future.  Around that same era, Leon Bridges, a young Black architect, designed a building for the Y as the first project of his own firm. Together, their stories reflect how Black leadership helped shape both the vision and the welcoming nature of YMCA spaces. 

Black leadership also helped guide the YMCA through stewardship and civic service. Marjorie Pitter King, the first African American woman to serve as a Washington State legislator, served as a YMCA board member and helped strengthen the Y as an organization rooted in opportunity and community. Judge Richard A. Jones, a current Y Life Board Member, supported the YMCA of Greater Seattle for more than three decades as a board member and served on the National Board of the YMCA of the USA, pairing civic leadership with deep mentorship. Norm Rice, Seattle’s first elected African American mayor, first African - American Board Chair for YGS, and a current Y Life Board Member, modeled earning public trust, bringing people together across differences, and building an inclusive future for all in community. 

These leaders represent an important throughline that has helped shape our legacy and anchor our mission: when leadership is grounded in inclusivity and community and guided by service, the YMCA continues to thrive as a gathering place of connection and belonging where all people can achieve their full potential in spirit, mind, and body.

Looking ahead: the next 150 years 

This anniversary year is a moment to recommit to belonging, connection, and community, not as phrases, but as lived experiences in our local Ys, our programs and services, our shared impact, and our partnerships. Our collective recommitment means supporting youth development so every young person can grow in confidence and possibility; advancing healthy living in ways that respect culture, access, and the realities youth and families face; and strengthening social responsibility by being there for our neighbors and being a trusted place to gather, learn, and lead. 

Across our region, many people are navigating uncertainty, anxiety, and heightened tension. Too often, neighbors and communities are left feeling less safe, less seen, or less hopeful. In moments like this, places that foster belonging and connection and inspire hope matter, as we pride ourselves in being there for all in community no matter what. 

The last 150 years have taught that community is not just inherited. Community is built, practiced, and fostered through shared commitment and impact to each other. We proudly stand on the shoulders of leadership that have preceded us and our 150 year inheritance and we remain committed to building and fostering our community and honoring our inheritance and legacy for the next 150 years. 

For those looking for ways to honor Black history and celebrate Black excellence this month, we invite participation in community events and shared experiences across our region.

Local events and ways to engage 

Ways to show up with the YMCA for our community 

Black History Month is a celebration, a learning journey, and a shared commitment. As we honor Black excellence and reflect on 150 years for all, we  look ahead with commitment, purpose, and hope. The YMCA of Greater Seattle has been building community for 150 years, and with you walking alongside, we are inspired to continue building belonging, connection, and community for the next 150 years. 

Loria Yeadon Headshot                

In gratitude and community,                
Loria Yeadon, President & CEO                
YMCA of Greater Seattle

 

 

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RESOURCES

Black Community Resource

The YMCA Equity and Justice for All Center of Excellence and African American Employee Resource Network have curated resources for education, growth, and healing for our local Black and African American communities. 

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