SCHOOLS OUT WASHINGTON
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Mission Statement
Schools cannot do it alone. All children and youth deserve opportunities to help them reach their full potential. School’s Out Washington (SOWA) strives to close the educational opportunity gap by increasing access to quality afterschool and summer learning opportunities that cultivate passions, develop 21st century skills and prepare kids for a successful future in school and beyond. Since 1987, SOWA has served as a convener, bringing together key stakeholders and creating needed change to support all young people’s academic achievement, healthy development and successful transition to adulthood. We work with large agencies (YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs) and small programs across the state to impact the quality of programs for all youth. As a mission and equity driven organization, SOWA provides an array of services to strengthen afterschool and youth development programs and support providers working with youth to deliver services that promote positive youth outcomes in school and in life.
About This Cause
A growing body of research shows that quality matters when it comes to delivering youth programming that results in positive academic and social/emotional outcomes. Recently released research reveals that afterschool and youth development programs lacking certain quality features are unlikely to impact or enhance academic or developmental outcomes. This research and what we know from our 28 years of service, drives our focus on quality and access for youth to programs that support their school and life success. SOWA works to ensure that staff get what they need to make their programs the best they can be for young people. All of our work at SOWA strives towards a common goal of ensuring all young people have access to opportunities that lead to success in school and life. School’s Out is a statewide organization and focuses our work on trying to reach the many varied communities in our state. SOWA serves a critical niche as the expert and backbone organization working closely with programs to help them be the best they can be so that youth, especially from marginalized communities, can have the opportunities they deserve to succeed. Current programs are organized in the following overarching categories: 1. Quality Improvement Initiative Over the past several years, SOWA has focused efforts on building a quality improvement system in our state to support afterschool, summer and youth development programs that addresses quality at the point of service working with youth and at the organizational and systems level. In 2014, SOWA released a set of Quality Standards which provide guidelines and benchmarks for what quality looks like in a program setting. In order to assess quality and plan for improvement, SOWA has led an initiative utilizing a research-based, validated assessment tool, coaching and training, and peer-to-peer learning. In 2014 alone, SOWA supported over 250 organizations through this quality improvement process in King, Pierce & Spokane counties. 2. Grants to Programs SOWA administers grants to programs supporting youth through out-of-school time learning including: Feed Your Brain addressing the issues of summer learning loss and summertime hunger among youth in high-poverty, rural areas of Washington; the Refugee School Impact Grant supporting local school systems impacted by significant numbers of refugee children and youth; and the Let’s Get Cooking grant to support nutrition education in summer programs in King County. 3. Advocacy SOWA’s Washington Afterschool Network serves as our action arm and mobilizes key stakeholders to raise awareness and build public will for school-linked afterschool and summer programs. In addition, SOWA coordinates the Expanded Learning Coalition, a group of organizations representing the AYD field with a vested interest in increasing access to expanded learning opportunities as a key strategy to closing the opportunity gap and supporting school and life success for all of Washington's youth. This coalition develops an annual policy agenda and works with SOWA's Education Policy & Advocacy Director to move forward improved policy and funding to support Expanded Learning Opportunities. In 2014, SOWA successfully led efforts to pass legislation to form the Expanded Learning Opportunities Council to provide recommendations on how to build a statewide system of support for ELOs and increase access to programs. 4. Racial Equity Fifty-five percent of youth who are participating in afterschool and youth development (AYD) programs in Washington State are youth of color. Given our statewide reach to these programs, School’s Out Washington has the ability to impact racial equity outcomes for youth. Through our ongoing training, advocacy and leadership, School’s Out Washington is committed to leading the AYD field in Washington State toward racial equity and leveling the playing field to provide equal access and opportunity for all young people. Examples of how we work toward this goal include delivering trainings on structural racism and racial equity; developing a training module on cultural competency and relevancy in Quality Standards; and focusing advocacy efforts on policy actively working to close the opportunity gap. Our support has expanded and deepened over our 28-year history currently reaching over 1,500 afterschool and youth programs. In 2014 alone: • SOWA disbursed $569,343 in funding to 30 communities impacting over 2,300 kids • SOWA trained over 2,000 afterschool and youth providers through our quality initiative and community workshops • SOWA delivered in total over 3,000 hours of coaching and training services. • All of our projects combined benefitted approximately 10,000 Washington youth. Our programs make a difference: • 95-97% of kids participating in our summer Feed Your Brain project maintain or improve their reading skill level over the summer, helping to curb summer learning loss that especially impacts low-income youth. • Our quality initiative has supported youth programs in increasing youth participation and engagement which thereby results in improved youth outcomes both academic and social/emotional. To date we have supported over 230 programs, 990 providers and impacted over 22,000 kids. • 99% of community workshop participants reported that the topic of the training was relevant or very relevant to their work. • 93% of respondents were satisfied with the training they attended, and 94% would recommend it to others.