Background & Approach

History

Since 2017, School’s Out Washington has partnered with King County Best Starts for Kids (BSK) to administer funding that expands access to high-quality afterschool and summer programs for youth ages 5-13 across King County.

From 2018-2021, SOWA implemented the first round of Best Starts for Kids out-of-school time funding, investing $12 million in 32 organizations to expand learning opportunities for youth. Following voter approval of the Best Starts for Kids levy renewal in 2021, SOWA conducted a competitive RFP process and awarded $16 million to 56 organizations for the 2022-2025 Expanded Learning grant cycle.

Through BSK 2.0, the initiative nearly doubled the number of organizations receiving funding and professional development support. These organizations provided consistent, high-quality, and culturally relevant afterschool and summer programming for youth across King County.

In 2025, King County approved a 2.5-year extension of the Expanded Learning Initiative grants (2025-2027) rather than opening a new RFP process. Current grantees were invited to apply for the extension, and SOWA extended funding offers to 58 programs.

Approach

The BSK Expanded Learning Initiative prioritizes increasing access to opportunities for youth who are Black, Indigenous, and youth of color (BIPOC) and/or living in poverty. Funding supports two primary models:

• BIPOC-led organizations embedded in culturally specific or cross-cultural communities of color
• Place-based collaboratives of three or more organizations serving youth in underserved school and housing communities

In addition to funding, SOWA provides professional development and quality improvement support through the Youth Program Quality Intervention (YPQI), a nationally recognized continuous improvement model that helps programs assess quality, strengthen staff practices, and create engaging, supportive learning environments for youth.

How grantees are chosen

SOWA uses a peer-review process to evaluate applications. Trained reviewers independently score proposals using a rubric aligned with funding priorities and then meet in small groups to reach consensus scores. SOWA recommends high-scoring applications to King County while also considering factors such as geographic equity and representation of priority youth populations. Final funding decisions are made by King County Best Starts for Kids.