Casino Road at a Glance
Like other communities battling poverty, the families living in this community face a number of challenges. High-rise apartment buildings line the stretch of the 2-mile long Casino Road, and like the rest of Western Washington, rents in this community are rising much faster than incomes. Families work hard to provide for their families, but a myriad of systemic barriers keep families firmly entrenched in cycles of intergenerational poverty. The thousands of immigrants and refugees that call Casino Road home often come from countries of origin that offered them few opportunities in education and employment, and systems here in the US don't always support their dreams and aspirations either. For many families, fear of not meeting basic needs, of deportation, and of racism are a daily reality.
The Casino Road neighborhood, located about 4 miles south of Everett's downtown core, is a densely populated area home to around 13,000 people. Over half of all the households in Casino Road's zip code belong to families, and those families are extremely diverse; 1 in 4 residents are foreign born and 80% of the student body at the local elementary school identify as a race other than white. Casino Road also has some of the highest rates of poverty in all of Snohomish County.
Yet despite these obstacles, this community is resilient. Casino Road is full of families who have made unbelievable sacrifices for the possibility of building a better life for their children. Families and local organizations have been working hard to support families that live here long before Connect Casino Road came into existence. In fact, it was the combination of the high-needs in this community and the high level of engagement among families and organizations in Casino Road that first inspired CCR.
Casino Road is home to many assets and resources. Schools, churches, nonprofits, community groups, artists, and volunteers all work together to cultivate the many strengths of this community. And by far the community's greatest strength of all are the incredible connections of care that exist between the residents who call this neighborhood home.
