Alaska Black Caucus prepares to open a new downtown ‘gathering center’

The Alaska Black Caucus is set to open a new facility, The Equity Center, in downtown Anchorage, a coworking, commercial cooking and office rental space for community members of color.

The 6,000-square-foot, two-story space was purchased by the caucus in 2021. It’s been renovated over the last three years — supported by $3 million in grants and donations, including federal COVID relief dollars directed by the Anchorage Assembly and donations from philanthropic groups including the Rasmuson Foundation, according to Alaska Black Caucus President and CEO Celeste Hodge Growden.

The building is set to open in early December, after contractors put finishing touches on the interior, she said. The Equity Center will also include offices for ABC and Hodge Growden.

“This is historical,” she said.

Though the Alaska Black Caucus has been around since 1972, the group has never had its own office space.

“There has never been … a gathering center that is led and focused on this type of work in the state. I’m so tired of reading and hearing about the disparities. Let’s do something about it. All of that will happen out of The Equity Center, because that’s our focus, that’s our goal,” Hodge Growden said.

The building is at 605 Barrow St., two blocks east of the Anchorage Museum. It will include 10 offices for below-market-value rent, a large conference room and gathering space, and a commercial kitchen. GCI is donating internet service, she said.

The idea, Hodge Growden said, is to host small businesses, nonprofit organizations, co-ops and daily co-workers who align with the caucus mission of improving the health, education, justice and economics of and for Blacks, Indigenous Alaskans and other people of color.

Already, the caucus has found a renter for its basement level: SEIU 775, a union representing home care, nursing home and residential care workers, Hodge Growden said.

Upcoming work at The Equity Center includes hosting events and programming for Black History Month in February, as well as a school for neighborhood police and firefighter applicants to learn about the process of becoming public service workers, according to Hodge Growden.

“One of our goals is to really increase the diversity within the police department and the fire department,” she said.

The center held a celebration for its near-completion on Nov. 9, which was attended by several hundred community members, Hodge Growden said. Among them were Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, Police Chief Sean Case and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who were invited for a reason, Hodge Growden said.

“I want this community to know that it’s important that we build a relationship with one another,” Hodge Growden said. “It’s not the police over here and the BIPOC community over here. We’re all one community, and we need to figure out how to work together.”