We have been entrusted to uphold a legacy

Each and every person at the YMI Cultural Center makes a difference to the complex, ongoing work of advancing the black community here in Buncombe County. We have and will continue to stand in and lead the way for black rights, social justice and changing... And with the community by our side, we will continue to accelerate to the next milestones for Black People.

Initially branded as “The Young Men’s Institute”, the more commonly known YMI Cultural Center is one of the oldest, most unique and beautiful Black cultural centers in the United States. The YMI is a local landmark within the City of Asheville, North Carolina and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Our founders, Mr. Isaac Dickson, the first person of color appointed to the Asheville City School Board, and Dr. Edward Stephens, principal of Asheville’s first public school for African American students, envisioned an organization similar to a YMCA to support Asheville’s African-American community. 

Dr. Stephens, frustrated with the racial discrimination he witnessed and the perception from white Asheville residents that black people were not capable of being self-reliant or assuming the responsibilities of citizenship, connected with other black community leaders and strategized. 

They then, in 1892, approached George Vanderbilt (founder of the Biltmore Estate) to provide the funding needed to establish an institution for the black construction workers employed at the Biltmore Estate “to improve the moral fiber of the black male through education focusing on social, cultural, business and religious life”. Moved by Professor Stephens’ plans, Vanderbilt loaned the institute $10,000 for an 18,000-square-foot building designed by Biltmore architect Richard Sharp Smith.