BIPOC-led Organizations
SOWA is excited to partner with the following organizations for the BSK Expanded Learning Initiative:
BIPOC-Led Organizations
A 4 Apple Learning Center
A 4 Apple’s Expanded Learning Programs provide culturally relevant, community-rooted enrichment opportunities for youth in the Central District through three after-school programs that foster positive identity development while promoting wellness, STEAM, and life skills, including exposure to the culinary field.
AbuBakr Islamic of WA
AbuBakr Islamic Center of Washington offers after-school clubs for AbuBakr Academy students, including a social media marketing club that builds digital skills, alongside various health and wellness activities promoting physical fitness, mindfulness, and balanced living for youth development.
Atlantic Street Center
BRAVE
BRAVE serves as a catalyst for transformational youth development and intergenerational healing across South King County through culturally grounded, equity-centered programming that uplifts Black and marginalized communities. BRAVE provides wrap-around programming for 4th and 5th grade students in addition to family-centered events, workshops, and retreats, and field trips.
Chinese Information and Service Center (CISC)
Communities of Rooted Brilliance
CRB’s Reading Program uses project-based learning activities alongside targeted literacy instruction to strengthen literacy, social-emotional learning, and essential life skills among K-5 students, especially those who are immigrant or refugees facing language barriers, academic gaps, and cultural adjustment.
Diaspora Family Healing Network
East African Community Services
EACS delivers culturally responsive afterschool programs for East African immigrant and refugee youth that include academic support, mentorship, and trauma-informed social-emotional learning, with an intentional focus on identity formation and leadership development.
El Centro De La Raza
El Centro de la Raza’s Roberto Maestas After School Program operates within Federal Way Public Schools, engaging youth in topics such as leadership, cultural enrichment, and community engagement, all rooted in ethnic studies and social-emotional learning, in addition to academic support.
Empowering Youth and Families Outreach (EYFO)
EYFO offers daily after school programming that centers the needs of Black and BIPOC elementary and middle school youth, honoring their cultural and individual brilliance and aiming to restore their sense of competence and self-worth through strengths-based supports including tutoring, leadership opportunities, social-emotional learning, play-based enrichment, and field-based learning.
Eritrean Association in Greater Seattle
Eritrean Association in Greater Seattle’s program integrates education, culture, and mentorship to provide a structured, strengths-based after school and weekend program for Eritrean youth. Their programming includes academic support and skill development, cultural enrichment, community building, and family and community engagement.
Filipino Community of Seattle
The Filipino Community of Seattle’s Youth Development Program is a safe, culturally responsive and relevant, enriching youth space that offers tuition-free after school and summer programs designed for immigrant, BIPOC, and low-income K-12 youth in Rainier Valley.
First Five Years & Beyond
First Five Years and Beyond provides a safe, positive, and enriching afterschool experience for African immigrant, African American, and low-income K-8 students in South King County. FFYB offers a variety of learning opportunities including STEM activities, college and career exploration, financial literacy, tutoring, social-emotional skill building, and cultural education.
Geeking Out Kids of Color (GOKiC)
Geeking Out Kids of Color (GOKiC) provides culturally responsive, STEM-based enrichment that builds computational thinking, coding, and problem-solving skills for BIPOC youth. Through an anti-racist and anti-sexist curriculum, students engage in hands-on learning, explore social justice themes, and develop confidence in seeing themselves reflected in STEM fields.
Horn of Africa Services (HOAS)
HOAS’ Expanded Learning Program supports East African students and their families through a variety of academic supports, mentoring, enrichment, and community-building activities, both in-person and virtually, during the school year and during school breaks.
Iraqi Community Center of WA
Iraqi Community Center of Washington provides a comprehensive after-school program that caters to both in-person and virtual learning needs while emphasizing social-emotional development and academic enrichment, including math, reading, and writing curriculum, social-emotional development support, and parent engagement initiatives.
Kids and Paper
Kids and Paper provides out of school time programming to children ages 5-12 living in Magnuson Park low-income housing and the surrounding neighborhoods, operating out of two different schools. At both sites, K&P provides homework help, tutoring, healthy meals, and social-emotional development through creative arts.
Living Well Kent Collaborative
Living Well Kent’s Pathway to Graduation program provides middle school youth with programming focused on four key components: academic support, restorative justice, health and wellness, and policy, systems, and environmental change education, emphasizing opportunities for youth to develop strong relationships and motivation to become involved with issues that inspire them.
Open Doors for Multicultural Families (ODMF)
ODMF’s Friendship Circle serves multicultural youth who experience developmental and intellectual disabilities, providing an environment where youth can interact with peers, develop friendships, participate in learning activities, and build strong emotional and self-advocacy skills, in addition to quarterly at-home learning materials tailored to student interests and needs.
Para Los Niños de Highline
Para los Niños de Highline programs uplift young Latino learners and increase parents’ ability to support their children’s development, positive identity, self-esteem, cultural pride, and growth of the entire family through culturally, linguistically, and developmentally relevant academic and social-emotional support for youth that is offered simultaneously alongside ELL classes for parents.
Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle King County Council
St. Vincent de Paul’s after-school program provides Spanish language and culture programming to low-income Latino and/or Spanish-speaking children and youth, aiming to increase their language and literacy skills in Spanish and deepen their connection to their culture and traditions.
Somali Health Board
Somali Health Board’s Youth Soccer Program is a community initiative that provides opportunities for marginalized youth facing significant barriers to play competitive soccer, offering a supportive and engaging experience focused on physical, mental, and community well-being.
South End Stories
South End Stories’ programs foster creativity, literacy, and social-emotional growth through theater, storytelling, filmmaking, and dance, giving students the agency to flex their individual creativity, the support to build critical thinking, social-emotional, 21st-century, and literacy skills, and the opportunity to share their own stories and lived experiences.
Student and Family Support Program (SFSP)
SFSP’s after-school program provides African American students with daily homework assistance and tutoring in math, reading, and writing, in addition to recreational and enrichment activities, emphasizing individualized planning and learning for each student alongside resources and supports for parents.
Urban Impact Seattle
Urban Impact’s Homework Club provides academic enrichment and social-emotional learning activities for students who live in Emerald City Commons and the surrounding communities, focusing on academic enrichment, social-emotional learning, and community development.
Washington West African Center
WAWAC’s after-school program provides after-school and summer programming to West African immigrant youth, designed to provide a safe haven that allows students to grow into confident and responsible adults through homework help, science experiments, cooking classes, artistic exploration, and field trips in a values-driven and culturally appropriate setting.
About our funding process: SOWA relies on a peer review process for reviewing and scoring applications. Among the 23 peer reviewers who reviewed BSK Expanded Learning applications, 87% identify as BIPOC and 96% share identities and/or lived experience with the priority populations of youth served. After participating in an orientation and anti-bias training, reviewers independently reviewed and scored a subset of applications using a scoring rubric aligned to funding priorities outlined in the RFP. Small groups then met to discuss and come to consensus on a score for each application. SOWA recommended high-scoring applications for funding to King County, with added consideration for licensed childcare programs, geographic equity, and representation of target populations of youth served. Final decisions were made by King County Best Starts for Kids.