How a grassroots Ukrainian school became a vital community anchor for a growing diaspora in America

In Bellevue, Washington, a grassroots cultural center shows how one immigrant’s determination to teach her children Ukrainian became a community hub for hundreds

When Oksana Krivizuk arrived in Washington State in 2015 with two small children, she faced a familiar immigrant dilemma: how to pass on her language and culture in a place where neither seemed to exist outside of church walls.

Within a month, she started her own school.

“We simply decided we were on our own,” Krivizuk said. Her children were five and three years old. The only Ukrainian-language programs she could find near her home were church-based, taught through religious Sunday school. As someone who values Christian principles but doesn’t practice religion institutionally, she wanted something different.

“School should b