The Cross-Cultural Center pilot program offers funding for local organizations to host events or workshops that bring people from different backgrounds together around shared intercultural experiences. The experiences are designed around active intercultural cross-cultural engagement, learning and exchange, and occur in different locations around Bellevue.
2026 Programming
In the fall of 2025, the city released a request for proposals to select recipients of 2026 Cross-Cultural Center without Walls program funding. These programs will run between January and December. A list of funded organizations and a calendar of events will be updated on this page once funding recipients are selected and programs are planned.
Funded Organizations (2026)
Twenty-seven local organizations will receive funding for events this year. Together, these organizations plan to host more than 70 diverse cross-cultural events.
- Africans on the Eastside
- Barakah Beauty
- Bellevue Mandarin DL PTSA
- BelRed Run Club
- Big Hug
- BizDiversity LLC
- Cafecito Mexican Bakery
- dvaDataStorage
- Eastside Bahá'í Center
- Friends of the Cross-Cultural Center
- Global Artists Collective
- Indian American Community Services
- International Buddy
- Kin On Health Center
- Little Masters Club
- Maíz Education
- Muslim Women Business Network
- PEYVAND
- Puesta del Sol PTA
- The Anthony Austin Agency
- ToyBox Consulting and Management
- TURKCHA
- VCBynum Arts and Education
- Win4All
- YeFineArts LLC
- Youth Eastside Services
- Yuinxiu Cultural Foundation
Get Involved
The best way to get involved in this project is to attend one of the cross-cultural events or activities hosted by our partnering organizations! Information on upcoming events is shared in the calendar on this page.
While the city was only able to fund a fraction of the many wonderful cross-cultural project ideas submitted to us, another focus of this project is to help build connections across people and organizations interested in building a cross-cultural Bellevue. We have created a directory of people and organizations in our community who provide programming and services related to cross-cultural engagement. See someone doing something you want to learn more about? Reach out and introduce yourself!
Summary of Past Community Engagement and Studies
The 2014 Diversity Advantage Plan envisioned a cross-cultural facility with a mission to “educate, celebrate, challenge and inspire Bellevue to be a welcoming and inclusive community that embraces diversity.”
In 2016, the City Council approved a series of studies to assess the need for cross-cultural programming in Bellevue and explore the feasibility of a cross-cultural center.
- Shaping our Inclusive Future: Cross-Cultural Programming Public Outreach Study (October 2018)
- Cross-Cultural Feasibility Assessment (November 2020)
- Cross-Cultural Feasibility Study Phase 3 Report (May 2022)
The studies, which involved considerable outreach, reflected the thinking and experience of hundreds of diverse Bellevue residents, and concluded there was a strong demand and need for more cross-cultural engagement opportunities. Furthermore, the studies concluded that this project would need to be community-led, possibly by a local nonprofit organization, and city-supported.
In 2022, the council directed staff to move forward with the development of the Cross-Cultural Center without Walls project and to explore possible nonprofit partners. Funding for the effort was included in the city's 2023-24 budget.
Community members joined in the planning of the Cross-Cultural Center Without Walls during three workshops held in the fall of 2023. At the first workshop, on Sept. 19, 2023, participants contributed ideas for activities and programs they would like to experience at the traveling center. Participants at the second workshop held in October identified ideas and themes they believed are most important for the project.
At the third and final workshop on Dec. 6, 2023, the city shared the summary of findings from the first two workshops and included key ideas for the project generated from over 125 participants. Staff also shared information on how to submit a proposal for a cross-cultural project to the city for possible funding opportunities.