The East Central Community Center, also known as the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, has supported the East Central Community for nearly fifty years. Along with offering services such as infant care and utility bill aid, the East Central Community Center serves as a teen center and senior cafeteria, acting as “one stop shop to meet the community’s needs,” as stated by director Freda Gandy. The center played a significant role in the establishment of other community centers both locally and nationwide. Ron Bair, the Mayor of Spokane at the time East Central Community Center opened, exclaimed that the center and its supporters had “become a model used by the rest of the United States,” a claim supported by the subsequent openings of the West Central and Northeast community centers. The East Central Community Center is also significant due to its deep association with the racially and ethnically diverse East Central Neighborhood and with the influential community organization the League of Women for Community Action. The League was a group of approximately twenty-five Black women who were the primary advocates for the formation of the center and were the first provider to receive a contract from Spokane City Council to run the center.

Management Agreement