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Summit Community Center plans for fall 2022 opening at Capitol Hill Station

(Image: Summit Center)

In Fall 2022, Capitol Hill Station will feature Summit Community Center, a center for neurodiverse individuals aged 18 to 29. It will offer programming and resources suited to prepare neurodiverse adults for a successful future.

“Everyone deserves to have a place, where everyone is a part of the community, disability or not,” the center’s executive director Alicia Nathan said. “The goal at Summit Community Center is to provide an outlet and a place for true social and community engagement for young adults with disabilities.”

Earlier, CHS reported on the new plans for the community center in Capitol Hill Station and growing efforts around neurodiversity in response to new understanding about variation in the human brain regarding how we socialize and learn. Neurodiversity can include people with ADHD and autism, Down syndrome, and some mental health conditions like being bipolar or obsessive-compulsive.

Now, Nathan says the Summit Community Center is raising funding and moving forward with plans for a fall opening.

“We want to help young adult neurodiverse individuals engage socially and get out into the community and be vibrant members of the community,” Nathan said.

In an effort launched by four families in April, Summit Community Center will be a community-driven facility that creates a “home away from home” for young adults, Nathan said. “It is so important to me and to the founding board to bring resources for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities because there aren’t a lot of resources out there for young adults with disabilities.”

She said after the age of 18, there are not many opportunities for true social engagement and community interaction outside of public schools’ 18 to 21 program.

The center is currently in its capital campaign, looking to raise three million dollars through donations by the end of the year. The funds will help create room in Capitol Hill Station’s south building to have classrooms and indoor recreational gym space. Nathan said the campaign will create scholarships and funding for membership.

She said Summit Community Center will also offer classes such as cooking and recreational sports,

“We don’t just want to be a center where people come, take a class and go. We want to really be a community within the community center walls. To have our Members really feel like there is a true membership there and that they are involved in what is offered at the community center,” Nathan said.

Nathan said she hopes the center is an opportunity to show that the Seattle community cares, that there is hope, and that there are places for young adults with disabilities to dive into adulthood, makes this an incredible milestone.

Despite the pandemic, Nathan said Summit Community Center will continue to push for a Fall 2022 opening.

“We are asking young adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities or their families to reach out to us and let us know what sort of activities they would like to see at the center because we really want this to be member driven. We want it to be informed by the community that we are serving,” Nathan said.

To support Summit Community Center’s campaign visit summitcommunitycenter.org.

 

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3 Comments
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d4l3d
d4l3d
2 years ago

Brilliant.

Eli
Eli
2 years ago

A new community center for neurodiverse young people sounds awesome, especially with Amazon’s downtown offices in hibernation.

F.G
F.G
2 years ago

I live nearby and this has all my support.