Pierce County Summer Learning Symposium

Join SOWA for a day of learning, collaboration, and growth tailored to the development and needs of summer youth program providers. Engage with experts from the field, build your skill toolkit, and explore applicable strategies to make your summer programs more impactful to the young people you serve.

Submit a Workshop for our 2025 Bridge Conference

Share your expertise, perspective, and innovative strategies with 500+ peers from the field at this year's 2025 Bridge Conference. Submit your workshop proposal by June 27.

Trainings & Workshops

Explore our training and workshop calendar for upcoming opportunities to connect, network, and learn alongside peer youth providers.

Read our 2024 Bridge Conference Recap

Explore how our conference theme of "Moments to Movements" was embodied by our powerful community of keynote speakers, presenters, attendees, and supporters at 2024 Bridge Conference.

2023 Annual Report

Last year was pivotal for us as we finalized our strategic plan, highlighting our three-year focus and ambition. This annual report is a testament to the collective efforts and achievements of our team as we advocated for and supported out-of-school time for young people in Washington.

2023-2026 Strategic Plan

We are proud to present our 2023-2026 strategic plan, which has been deeply informed by School’s Out Washington’s community and supported by the thoughtful guidance of Be The Change Consulting.

We support the people and organizations who empower youth through expanded learning.

School’s Out Washington is working to ensure equitable access to high-quality, youth development programs across Washington state—especially for low-income youth and youth of color. Through advocacy, professional learning, and grants we have created a foundation of support and expertise that enables and enriches the critical work of youth-serving organizations.

Trainings & Workshops

May 13 — May 27

May 13 — May 27

May 29

(9:30 am — 3:45 pm)

May 29

(10:00 am — 12:30 pm)

May 30

(10:00 am — 11:00 am)

Empathy Matters (Supervisors)

May 13, 2025 — May 27, 2025

Format: SOWA Online Learning Library

Topic: Through interactive courses and practical activities, you’ll gain tools to integrate empathy into your work, model it effectively, and develop strategies for embedding empathy-building practices into youth programs.

STARS Credits: 2

Empathy Matters (Staff)

May 13, 2025 — May 27, 2025

Format: SOWA Online Learning Library

Topic: Through interactive courses and practical activities, you’ll gain tools to integrate empathy into your work, model it effectively, and develop strategies for embedding empathy-building practices into youth programs.

STARS Credits: 2

Youth Mental Health First Aid

May 29, 2025 (9:30 am — 3:45 pm)

Format: Virtual

Topic: Youth Mental Health First Aid trains adults to support teens (ages 12–18) facing mental health or substance use challenges or crises.

STARS Credits: 7.5

Building Community (IN PERSON)

May 29, 2025 (10:00 am — 12:30 pm)

Format: Rainier Scholars – Tacoma, 1614 S Mildred St suite c

Topic: This interactive workshop will introduce participants to a variety of activities designed to support the community building process.

STARS Credits: 2

Facilitator Community Of Practice

May 30, 2025 (10:00 am — 11:00 am)

Format: Virtual

Topic: Facilitators will share knowledge and mentor peers to enhance skills, alignment, and professional growth in youth development.

STARS Credits: 1

Trainings & Workshops

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Stories

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Quality Spotlight: Living Well Kent

August 19, 2024

For youth program coordinators Yusuf Ali-Halane and Ankita Gupta, engaging with quality improvement has been a journey of both individual growth and collective transformation for the youth and families they serve at Living Well Kent. As a Black, Indigenous, and...

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Living Well Kent program coordinators take a selfie with youth in the program

Community Feedback

News & Updates

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September 26

Private: Hiring Announcement: Policy and Advocacy Director

Overview:For over 30 years, SOWA has been supporting an equitable ecosystem of expanded learning programs for Washington’s youth by helping after-school, summer, and child care programs beco...

September 16

Meet 2024 Bridge Conference closing plenary speaker: Luis Ortega

Luis Ortega Luis (he/they) is a multidisciplinary storyteller, educator, facilitator, narrative strategist, and the founder and director at Storytellers for Change. Over the last 16 years, L...

September 13

2023: A Year of Strategic Mobilization and Advocacy for Youth Development

As an intermediary in Washington, mobilizing, convening, and advocating to fund the youth development field were fundamental objectives in 2023. Upon hiring our strategy and partnerships dir...

Get involved!

Join the Youth Development Strategy Table

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The Youth Development Strategy Table is a coalition of public and nonprofit stakeholders working to establish a focused state-level youth development effort to sustain early learning gains, improve academic and social-emotional outcomes, and prevent deep end system involvement.

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List your program and get on the map!

Check out Elevate Washington

Elevate Washington is a member-based youth program data system and public directory. It includes nonprofits, businesses, and agencies that offer afterschool enrichment, childcare, youth services, and a range of other opportunities and support for children and young people (ages 5 to 24).

SOWA created the Elevate Washington so that we have the tools and information needed to see where youth programs are operating in our state and better understand who’s being served. With this critical data, we’re able to advocate for resources and also provide families with an easy way to find programs in their area.

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