More information about Cherry Street Village:
The Islamic School of Seattle was founded in 1980 by five white and African American women converts. They wanted a school that fostered a sense of community and helped their children understand the significance of their uniquely blended culture. They decided on Montessori, an unusual concept that required them to recruit a Pakistani Florida teacher, fo
r the first such Islamic nationwide program. After educating their community about Montessori, ISS grew rapidly and acquired the Talmud Torah Jewish school building in Seattle's Central Area to better serve its widely spread families. After more than 30 years of serving the Greater Seattle community, several other Islamic schools had begun, and the student body grew smaller. In June of 2012, ISS, one of the first Islamic Schools established in the United States closed its doors. Through the tireless efforts of one of the last Seattle-residing founding mothers, Ann El-Moslimany, ISS evolved into Cherry Street Mosque. As with ISS, the CSM community broke new ground locally by becoming one of the first openly progressive Islamic organizations in Seattle, with the mission of creating a welcoming and safe space for all, regardless of sex, race, sexual orientation, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. The Cherry Street Village will be a collective interfaith community whose mission is to offer arts friendly groups a future event rental space, in a preserved historical landmark. Our goal is to offer the public a deeper appreciation of our interfaith community with cultural holiday celebrations enhancing that experience. CSV will house various interfaith and arts organizations that have agreed to work on the initial phase, all of them serving historically underserved communities. We are especially excited about uniting with partner communities to build a vibrant, shared culture and interfaith space. Dunya Productions would like to house its multicultural productions (and sets) in one location. The Kadima Reconstructionist (Jewish) Community envisions a permanent home, a place for its Sabbath school, celebratory gatherings, study and education, and social justice work. Salaam Cultural Museum envisions a space to house their educational and cultural collection from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Pre-Covid, on alternate weeks, Cherry Street Mosque hosted the Friday Prayer Circle, a woman-led devotional gathering under the spiritual guidance and direction of Ann Holmes Redding. These prayers in the Islamic tradition were established in 2014 by CSM’s big sister organization, the Interfaith Community Sanctuary. CSM envisions continuing offering prayer space that will welcome progressive congregations of all faiths, and dreams to include a spiritual day school, daycare, food bank, artist-in-residency studio, a pea patch and to develop low income housing on the adjacent commercial lot.
