In its 13^th year of celebrating southeast Seattle’s diverse culinary scene, Plate of Nations drew over 2,000 new customers and increased revenues an average of 12% for the 51 south Seattle restaurants that participated—generating $70,000 for Rainier Valley businesses. This was a 30 percent increase in participation over last year.

Over 16 days this spring, Plate of Nations offered Seattle foodies a culinary world tour, with restaurants that spanned the globe from Laos to Ethiopia. This year, Plate of Nations included Arabic cuisine and two new halal fast food restaurants in its lineup, making its lineup of globe-spanning restaurants the most diverse ever.

“HomeSight’s community development department advocates for small business owners in south Seattle, and we’re always talking about the immeasurable contributions they make to our diverse city. But Plate of Nations allows us to really show, not tell, how diversity can make a community so vibrant,” said HomeSight’s Community Development Director Sarah Valenta. “Sharing food—because a meal really engages all our senses—is, I think, the best way to experience and begin to understand a culture and its traditions.”

Community members agreed. On Plate of Nations’ social media platforms, HomeSight received messages such as:

• “Thank you for sharing about the small local businesses in the south end of Seattle. We live 10 minutes away and didn’t know about all these wonderful places. I haven’t been back to the neighborhood since I went to middle school and high school down the street from there!”
• “Can I just say that I truly appreciate you all, @plateofnations? So many small and local restaurants get overlooked. I love y’all because it reminds me there are so many restaurants I want to return to or try out!”

“We’re so thrilled to see how this annual celebration has grown over the years and brought success to local business owners,” said Valenta. “We can’t wait to bring it back in 2025!”

“For too many Washington residents, even a so-called ‘starter house’ is too big a leap to get into the real estate market,” said HomeSight Executive Director Darryl Smith. “With a co-op like U-lex, people can start building equity at a much lower price point than you’d find in this housing market. U-lex is creating the first few rungs on the ladder, so people can start the climb to the true financial stability homeowning allows.” 

U-lex is the final building in HomeSight’s Othello Square complex, which now houses the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic, a community-based health care provider, Verity Credit Union, Salish Sea Elementary School, and Tiny Tots Development, a provider of early childhood education. Fifty percent of U-lex units are reserved for people who have roots in this community.

 “U-lex is an intentional anti-displacement tool,” said Uche Okezie, HomeSight’s Director of Real Estate Development. “Without planned growth through projects such as U-lex, the city risks losing the communities that make Seattle so unique.”

U-lex is spelled “ʔúləx̌” in Lushootseed, the language spoken by the Coast Salish people who originally lived on this land. Pronounced ‘OH-lew,’ ʔúləx̌ means “gather” in the Lushootseed language. To learn more about U-lex, please contact Pearl Nelson or visit the website.