Bettylou (Burleigh) Valentine (1937-2014) came to Seattle in 1959 to attend graduate school at the University of Washington. She was an early leader of Seattle CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), serving as secretary in 1964. She helped organize the campus Civil Rights Action Group (CRAG) after the university administration refused to allow an NAACP chapter on campus. She left Seattle after graduation to work on her PhD, teach, conduct research, and write. Valentine was a respected cultural anthropologist, and published the book "Hustling and Other Hard Work: Life Styles in the Ghetto." Returning to Seattle, Valentine served as a Commissioner on the Seattle Housing Authority for 12 years, and was Executive Director of Central Youth & Family Services for 16 years before her retirement.

Central Youth and Family Services (originally Mount Baker Central Youth Service Bureau, and as of 2019, part of Therapeutic Health Services) began in 1989 as a private, non-profit drug and alcohol treatment program for young people of color, who often felt alienated by the cultural insensitivity of other programs. The 15-week outpatient program addressed race and the anger issues of low-income inner-city youths, as well as drug treatment.

This photo shows Bettylou Valentine, executive director of Central Youth & Family Services, on the site for a new center at Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. and S. Holgate Street. In the foreground is a rendering of the new building. Therapeutic Health Services Youth & Family Branch continues to provide service at this location as of 2019.

Caption information source: "Minority Teen Feel Isolated in Treatment Programs" by Leone Pope, Seattle Times, December 12, 1989, p. C1.
Caption information source: "Seattle CORE Founders and Leaders" retrieved at http://seattleinblackandwhite.org/leaders.html
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.