Regional Challenge Grants

Centro Cultural Mexicano

Centro Cultural Mexicano

• In partnership with Cascadia College, Centro Cultural Mexicano, Latino Educational Training Institute (LETI), and Mi Centro.
• The partnership will develop a report outlining the barriers that affect postsecondary enrollment and retention in Latino communities, with recommendations for future action. They will focus on Spanish-speaking learners who live in the Puget Sound area, including both rural and urban communities, and the assets that they bring to their respective postsecondary opportunities. This report will consist of a regional landscape study, community assessments, and data analysis to create a clearly defined, current understanding of postsecondary educational challenges facing Latino communities. The partnership will build shared understanding and alignment between community-based organizations (CBOs) and institutions of higher education.
• Each partnership organization acts as a regional hub and an equal partner with deep trusted relationships in their community. They state, “Not only do our community members have lived experience in navigating these postsecondary education systems, but our organizations—the people who work to better our communities’ outcomes—also have our own lived experience as members of our Latino community. We are learning from a place of understanding and this partnership takes into account the very real challenges that face our communities.”

Cornerstone

Cornerstone

• In partnership with Chehalis School District, The Chehalis Foundation, Centralia College, United Way of Lewis County, The BERC Group, Summit Center, Bethel Church, & Boys and Girls Club of Chehalis.
• By engaging with families through the entire PK-12 pathway—with dedicated coordinators and a comprehensive communications plan—the partnership’s Cornerstone Program takes a two-generation approach to advancing educational attainment. Their strategies emphasize early childhood and K-8 awareness and preparation, a natural next step that expands on the community’s remarkable success in connecting high school graduates with postsecondary credential programs and contributes to building a local educational ecosystem that supports students and families across their educational lifespan.
• The Cornerstone Program anticipates that students and families served will experience increases in the following short-term outcomes: scholarship and FAFSA application rates, academic achievement, attendance rates, and Kindergarten readiness scores for students served; and increased postsecondary enrollment rates for parents without a postsecondary credential.

ELEVATE

ELEVATE (Empowering Learners to Excel through Vocation Advancement, Training, and Education)

• In partnership with Everett Community College (EvCC), Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington, with others being recruited.
• The partnership will build on connections between the Snohomish County Job Training & Education Center and the credential programs at Everett Community College to support adult learners in pursuing and completing a credential. They will evaluate Evergreen Goodwill Digital Skills and Job Readiness courses to find alignment with EvCC prerequisites and create a Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) process to award credits to individuals completing qualifying courses. Additionally, they will work to strengthen the on-campus culture that supports adult learners by dedicating campus space to support the adult learner community. This work is informed by the multitude of learner populations that they serve including refugees and asylees—many of whom come to their campus with previous credentials from their home countries. The partnership understands the wealth of experiences that adult learners bring to their continued learning and honors this value in their work. They state, “No matter where or how you got your skills, it counts.”
• The two primary organizations have a longstanding relationship, including previous efforts to develop CPL for high school graduation that stalled due to the pandemic. ELEVATE is representative of an emerging partnership that will recruit additional CBO partners from their broader community. This recruitment will occur on a strong foundation of leaders who are embedded within the community they serve, which they will continue to reach, listen to, and engage with throughout their work.

Foundation for Tacoma Students

Foundation for Tacoma Students (FFTS)

• In partnership with Tacoma Public Schools, Franklin Pierce School District, Peninsula School District, Clover Park Technical College, Enhanced Prep, Northwest Education Access, Palmer Scholars, West Sound STEM Network, Workforce Central, and Pacific Lutheran University.
• FFTS and its partners are targeting increased educational attainment through the expanded reach of two programs—What’s Next Senior Supports and Campaign Free Aid—that provide supports to students graduating high school. Embedded in these programs is an intentional effort to foster a greater sense of belonging for historically and perpetually marginalized and minoritized students in the region. Students will be given greater access to mentors who share and reflect students’ identities and can offer support in their primary or preferred language.
• What’s Next Senior Supports leverages community-based organizations to respond to senior student needs with navigational and case management support. This strategy is built on the premise that a student who receives personalized guidance from a network of diverse mentors and professionals benefits from advice, resources, and support tailored to their specific needs and goals, which increases their ability to make informed postsecondary plans and choices.
• Campaign Free Aid is a multi-district strategy to increase Pierce County FAFSA/WASFA completion rates through community capacity building, with a focus on closing racial and income equity gaps. The campaign involves financial aid completion events; technical assistance and training for school district and community-based organization staff; tracking completion and managing student case referrals; and coordinated communications and marketing materials.

GROW-Net

GROW-Net

• In partnership with Kiona-Benton City School District, The STEM Foundation, Columbia Basin College, Washington State University TriCities, Educational Service District-123, Open Doors/TC Futures, Tri-City Development Council, Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, Benton-Franklin Workforce Development Council, Benton City Revitalization, Benton City Community Outreach, Mid-Columbia Libraries, Minerva Morales Education Consultant and Steward Leaders LLC, among others being recruited.
• The STEM Foundation is an emerging, cross-sector partnership engaging families in Benton City. The partnership supports students at the local school district gain access to postsecondary pathways and resources, and familiarizes parents with resources available to support their students and their own re-entry. STEM Foundation has three areas of strategic development:
  • Inspire. Introduce students in the Kiona Benton (Ki-Be) School District to career options and develop their postsecondary pathway of interest (inclusive of out-of-school and non-traditional students).
  • Empower. Equip parents to support their child’s postsecondary pathway and connect parents with support structures for their own education and career development.
  • Engage. Include community voices in the region to bring and share the message of credential attainment in workforce development.

Kitsap Strong

Kitsap Strong

• In partnership with Bainbridge Island School District, Bremerton School District, Central Kitsap School District, Chief Kitsap Academy, Kitsap Community Resources, North Kitsap School District, North Mason School District, Olympic College, Olympic Educational Service District 114, and South Kitsap School District.
• The partnership will increase enrollment and retention by deepening their trauma-informed, hope-centered systems change framework within the region, piloting an aligned Bridge opportunity with Olympic College, and expanding an aligned middle school Future Focused Summer Academy. Although this work with the Regional Challenge Grant includes ten targeted partners, Kitsap Strong’s place-based, collective-impact partnership includes more than 110 organizations working to transform systems to improve the well-being and educational attainment of their community to alleviate generational poverty.
• Kitsap Strong will continue to ground their work in data and the voices of their community. The Bridge opportunity will be designed intentionally with student voices to shape the process. These strategies build on previous pilots, with an opportunity to take it to the next level with intentional integration with Olympic College. In particular, the design for the Hope Navigator Training is an effort to increase enrollment and retention, to train secondary school counselors, school advisors, local youth-serving CBOs, and outreach and advising staff at Olympic College to integrate a community of practice for Hope Navigators.

Methow Futures

Methow Futures

• In partnership with Methow Valley Education Foundation, TwispWorks, Room One, Family Health Centers, Western Washington University Sustainability Pathways, Sawtooth Dental, Methow Trails, Methow Valley Elder Care Coordination Network (Jamie’s Place), Classroom in Bloom, Three Rivers Hospital, Wenatchee Valley College, North Central Educational Service District, with others being recruited.
• The partnership is expanding capacity by recruiting new partners to retain students in their geographically isolated region so that more students receive career-based learning opportunities. The partnership approaches their region in a unique way within the funded cohort. They address opportunities for students in layers based on the driving commute time, with the closest community receiving complete wraparound supports. Students are also matched on a 1:1 basis for “earn to learn” opportunities based on their identified interests.
• In the first year, the partnership worked to recruit two partners in new sectors, the health industries and natural resources, to source opportunities for students to work in the “earn to learn” space. Based on learning from the first year of funded work, the partnership is expanding to new pathway development, including piloting two new College in the High School courses to build out the natural resources CTE pathway. 

Mpower

Mpower

• In partnership with LaunchNW – Innovia Foundation, Northeast Washington ESD 101, Spokane Public Schools, Medical Lake School District, East Valley School District, Central Valley School District, Riverside School District, Nine Mile Falls School District, Eastern Washington University, Whitworth University, Gonzaga University, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Inland Northwest, Communities in Schools of Spokane County, Nuestras Raíces Centro Comunitario, Greater Spokane Incorporated, and Slingshot.
• LaunchNW and the Innovia Foundation are partnering with CBOs and local universities to implement a comprehensive mentoring initiative, MPower, to support students in the Spokane region. MPower, which emphasizes both college and career exploration, is available to all interested tenth and eleventh grade students in the pilot schools, but focuses on supporting students who are low-income, experiencing homelessness, as well as BIPOC and English language learning students and families. MPower connects students with adult, college-attending near-peer, and college-bound peer mentors who provide encouragement, guidance, and support that is tailored to the academic, emotional, social, and financial needs of each student. Parents involved in MPower receive parent-to-parent mentorship. Site coordinators in the six high schools bring together regional partners who provide mentorship support and identify and place students with mentors. An integral part of MPower’s implementation includes the recruitment of BIPOC mentors through partnerships with community-based organizations.

Olympic Peninsula Resource CO-OP

Olympic Peninsula Resource CO-OP

• In partnership with Department of Social & Health Services, Olympic Angels (Human Services/Foster Community Non-Profit), Olympic Community of Health, Olympic Peninsula YMCA, Peninsula College, Serenity House (Homeless/Housing Services), United Way of Clallam County, and West Sound STEM Network.
• The partnership will establish Resource CO-OP (COnnections and OPportunities) in Forks, Port Angeles, and Port Townsend. These one-stop shops will integrate access to housing, childcare, and transportation support services alongside financial aid, college enrollment, and advising resources. By addressing known factors that prevent adults from pursuing or re-engaging in degree programs, they seek to increase credential completion in their community.
• The partnership will meet learners where they live with a place-based approach to build trusted relationships rooted in liberatory design. This is directly reflected in their piloting of Co-Ops in DSHS offices and related efforts to increase connection with remote areas of the Peninsula like Forks, Washington. The partnership includes local organizations Serenity House and Olympic Angels, which have established trust with the variety of focal populations that they serve, including foster youth and persons experiencing homelessness.

Seattle Postsecondary Success Network

Seattle Postsecondary Success Network

• In partnership with City of Seattle’s Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL), Seattle Public Schools, Seattle Colleges, Seattle Promise, Empowering Youth and Families Outreach (EYFO), El Centro de la Raza, Mentoring Urban Students and Teens (MUST), Brotherhood Initiative, Sisterhood Initiative, Project Baldwin, Seattle Youth Employment Program, Scholar Fund, and Right Standing Solutions.
• The City of Seattle’s Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) is leveraging the RCG investment to formalize the Seattle Postsecondary Success Network to provide coordinated wraparound support for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students from high school through their second year of postsecondary education. Embedded in this umbrella strategy are three related culturally specific and responsive efforts: the expansion of mentorship services; the co-creation with communities of college and career readiness professional development for school staff; and expanded career-connected learning opportunities for high school juniors, as well as current and incoming students participating in the Seattle Promise scholarship.

United Way of the Blue Mountains

United Way of the Blue Mountains

• In partnership with Elevate, Walla Walla Community College, Dayton School District, Columbia Burbank School District, Touchet School District, Prescott School District, College Place School District, Walla Walla School District, Waitsburg School District, Dixie Elementary and Starbuck Elementary.
• In the first year of work, the United Way of the Blue Mountains partnership conducted a qualitative research study to better understand why individuals in the region choose to forgo postsecondary education. Based on this report, the partnership is establishing a student and family advisory group to build trust in the greater Blue Mountains region, including Walla Walla, Touchet, Prescott, Starbuck, Waitsburg, Dayton, and College Place school districts. The advisory groups will inform greater development of the partnership and provide an opportunity to share information about all postsecondary opportunities. In the development of this work, the partnership plans to:
  • Tailor post-high school pathways to the unique interests and needs of the community.
  • Connect members with non-profits and other community resources to leverage assets.
  • Prioritize the voices of students and parents.
  • Integrate input and recommendations into the partnership’s initiatives.

WSU Native American Health Sciences

Washington State University Native American Health Sciences

• In partnership with The Coeur d'Alene Tribe, Community Colleges of Spokane, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, The Kalispel Tribe of Indians, Seattle Children's Hospital, Spokane Tribe of Indians, Washington State University NAHS, Yakama Nation, with others being recruited.
• The partnership will coordinate K-12 and college-centered pathway programs in the health sciences for Indigenous youth and adults across five tribal lands of our state, including the Spokane Tribe of Indians, The Coeur d'Alene Tribe, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Yakama Nation, and The Kalispel Tribe of Indians. This work is a direct reflection of requests by tribal elders and community members to support their youth in becoming healthcare workers who can, in turn, support their communities. The partnership is emerging and plans to develop aligned goals amongst cross-sector organizations to build, in their words, “true capacity in and with the community.”
• The partnership includes multiple higher education institutions and community leaders deeply embedded within their respective communities. They center their work with an approach to healthcare and medicine that honors its relationship with the land. While WSU is located in Spokane, most of this work will take place on tribal lands in Central and Eastern Washington.  The partnership can create change within education and healthcare systems by centering trusted relationships in this work.

Yakima Valley Partners for Education

Yakima Valley Partners for Education

• In partnership with The College Success Foundation, Catholic Charities Housing, Communities for Colleges, Communities in Schools, Eastern Washington University, El Conquistador, ESD 105, Fred Hutch Center, Granger High School, Heritage University, HU Adelante STEM Program, HU High School Equivalency Program (HEP), OSPI-Office of Native Education, KDNA Radio, Mount Adams School District, Northwest Harvest, Nuestra Casa, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Safe Haven, Yakima Valley Farmworkers Clinic-Parents as Teachers, Self Help Bank, Silvias Taxes, StriveTogether, Sunnyside School District, Taxes Y Mas, United Family Center, the University of Washington GEAR UP, West Valley School District, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Yakima Neighborhood Health, and Yakima Valley College.
• Yakima Valley Partners for Education implements community-responsive strategies focusing on Spanish language access in the middle and lower regions of the Yakima Valley. They have three implementation strategies, including:
  • Community Conversations, where students and families are greeted with a warm meal and can learn from a variety of sectors about postsecondary opportunities and resources, including local institutions of higher education, College Success Foundation, and Gear Up. Families also receive additional resources including food security and tax preparation support. Each conversation is held in Spanish.
  • School-Based Approaches include direct K-12 support in the middle and lower valley to offer school field trips to students to expand their access to postsecondary opportunities. This strategy is intentionally sequenced with Community Conversations, FAFSA/WASFA completion nights, and other school activities to catalyze the student and family motivation as a result of the field trip.
  • Trusted Tax Approaches includes local, Spanish-speaking tax preparers to families to provide trusted support for their completion of their income tax. This is a necessary step for the community to ensure a family has the necessary financial forms completed before filing a FAFSA or WASFA.