Category: News

Bridge Conference 2023 Highlights—Forging Brighter Futures

By School's Out Washington

What an event! Together, we set out to Reflect, Connect, and Reimagine our work to advocate and uplift the young people around the state of Washington. With our collective wisdom and knowledge, we achieved our goal. Now, we have a rejuvenated pathway to Forging Brighter Futures.  Where are you rooted?  On Bridge day one, we opened the conference with a powerful message from our keynote speaker, Melannie Denise Cunningham. Her talk centered on our foundation and how we show up for ourselves and others. Ms. Melannie challenged us to reflect on our upbringing and on the cycles of socialization that … [ ]

Bridge 2023 closing plenary: Mobilizing for a Brighter Future

What role do we play in forging brighter futures for young people? Through youth and community voice, collective action and advocacy, and the resourcing and development of our rich tapestry of providers and programs, we create the conditions for all young people to be healthy, thriving, and reach the future they envision. In this closing session, we will hear from a panel of national and local leaders about how the youth development sector can be mobilized to move us toward our goal of building sustainable systems that elevate and empower young people and their communities.  Come ready to be inspired and called to … [ ]

Celebrating the legacy of YDEKC, a pivotal King County coalition and convener 

By School's Out Washington

When Youth Development Executives of King County (YDEKC) was created in 2010, the youth development sector in King County was made up of loosely connected agencies, often competing for scarce funds and ill equipped to stand in equal partnership with other youth-serving sectors. From the beginning, YDEKC’s goal was to organize, activate, and empower our sector to achieve more equitable results for King County’s young people. It developed into a diverse coalition of leaders representing youth-serving community-based organizations. Its members partnered with schools, communities, and families to ensure every young person has what they need to learn, grow, and thrive.  … [ ]

Announcing Bridge keynote speaker: Melannie Denise Cunningham

SOWA is excited to welcome Melannie Denise Cunningham to this year’s Bridge Conference, Forging Brighter Futures. Melannie is a Tacoma-based thought leader and practitioner who has excelled as an educator, social justice activist, scholar, entrepreneur, and humanitarian. Her leadership spans diverse industries, profoundly impacting college administration, youth development, government service, broadcast media, and more. Reflecting first, so that we can move toward connection and reimagining. Melannie will kick off Bridge Conference 2023 by grounding our experience in the initial theme of reflection. By inviting us to reflect on our biases and individual journeys, we can then embrace the learning and … [ ]

Refugee School Impact Contracts Manager

Overview For three decades, School’s Out Washington (SOWA) has served a critical role to advance equitable expanded learning ecosystems in Washington state. We work to ensure high-quality afterschool and summer programs are available so all of Washington’s youth—and especially low-income youth and youth of color—can have the opportunities they deserve to thrive. SOWA is dedicated to building responsive community systems to support quality afterschool, youth development and summer programs for Washington’s children and youth ages 5 through young adulthood. Position Summary SOWA administers the Refugee School Impact Program, which is funded through multiple contracts with Washington State.  SOWA funds and … [ ]

Call for external assessors

By School's Out Washington

School’s Out Washington is currently seeking professionals to serve as contracted Program Quality Assessment (PQA) External Assessors utilizing the Social Emotional Learning PQA. Each External Assessor will be contracted as Independent Contractors for School’s Out Washington. External Assessors will gain valuable professional development opportunities and will be trained to conduct on-site observations using the Social Emotional Learning Program Quality Assessment (SEL PQA) tool in a variety of afterschool expanded learning opportunity programs in Washington State. As part of the onboarding process, new assessors will receive multiple trainings that focus on youth programming and on building relationships between young people and … [ ]