Milestones

Circa 1890: University of Washington moves from downtown Seattle to present campus. Existing U District churches established 1890-1910.
August 1948: First meeting of World Council of Churches sparks a search among churches on every continent for Christian unity. Today, 348 church bodies around the world are members of WCC.
1950s: In the postwar boom U District church membership numbers peak, facilities expand.
1960s: Broad changes in contemporary culture begin a gradual membership decline in most U District churches.
1969: U.W. Campus Christian Ministry becomes ecumenical with the establishment of United Ministries in Higher Education, later moved to Covenant House - now a program of seven Christian denominations.
1986: U District churches together create and host the University Youth Center (UYC). Ensuing years see the opening of various neighborhood programs including youth shelter, case management, community roundtable, food bank, emergency feeding program, drop-in center, GED program, job skills training, emergency services, etc.
1989: UYC and U District churches kick-start Teen Feed for homeless youth - still hosted today in four neighborhood churches on a rotating basis. UYC is gradually replaced by several agencies specializing in different kinds of support.
2000: ROOTS Young Adult Shelter opens, gathering scattered emergency shelters into single location for 365-night program; mission includes facilitating strategic alliance among separate agencies.
2003: U District Service Providers Alliance forms to coordinate services.
2004: Eight U District congregations amass data on building resources, operations and finances, demographics, programming, administration of their churches.
2005: “University District Ecumenical Parish” is named. UDEP coordinates first ecumenical presence at annual U District Street Fair.
2006: Churches develop collocation plan based on research into development, legal and governance issues, real estate market, financing.
2007: Six worshiping communities form and fund University District Ecumenical Campus Coalition. UDECC begins feasibility study for an Ecumenical Campus.
2008: UDECC assembles stellar consultant team (architects, attorneys, development consultants and cost estimators) and works toward completion of comprehensive feasibility study.
2009: UDECC submits completed feasibility study to congregations in early 2009.