Tag: Centering Culture

Best Starts for Kids  renewal  headed to the August 2021  ballot in King County! 

By School's Out Washington

Holistic community support for youth and families. This is the overarching purpose of King County’s Best Starts for Kids Initiative. As we’ve seen with the inaugural Best Starts Out-of-School Time grant—led by School’s Out Washington—increasing the availability of high-quality, culturally relevant youth programs means that our region’s kids grow academically, socially, and emotionally. And this August, voters will have the opportunity to ensure that life-changing youth programs stay strong.  With the support of King County voters, we’ve provided funding, coaching, program quality support, and capacity building for more than three years to 35 organizations and partnerships. SOWA focused on two important models for this … [ ]

Black Futures, Black Brilliance—Living Well Kent’s Youth Policy Council invited to Best Starts for Kids Summit

By School's Out Washington

“There’s a brilliance that happened in the past, brilliance that’s happening today as I watch you, and the brilliance that will happen in the future under your tutelage. Because you have the ability. The Youth Policy Council is creating leaders.” Wesley Saint Clair When Living Well Kent’s Youth Policy Council hosted a virtual Black History Month showcase in February, they did not want to focus on Black struggle, but rather celebrate Black brilliance—and they wanted to make sure that local politicians and others involved in community engagement celebrated alongside them. The young people’s work led to an invitation to present … [ ]

Seattle CARES—creating and becoming superheroes

By Adriana Zazula

Seattle CARES is more than mentoring. The organization invests not only in the youth they work with, but also their families. Their mission is to secure and transform the lives of Black children by inspiring, recruiting, and mobilizing masses of caring Black men and women to mentor and nourish them. Their programs respect the voices of the students, adults, parents and guardians they serve, and reflect the needs and wishes of the community. The pandemic highlighted an increasing need for wrap-around support. Seattle CARES took only three weeks to reassess how they would adapt their programs virtually. Immediately following, they … [ ]

King County Best Starts for Kids quality out-of-school time initiative extended for fourth year

By School's Out Washington

The Out-of-School Time Initiative, a part of King County Best Starts for Kids, began in 2018 and was slated to provide youth program providers with funding and quality improvement support through 2020. The initiative is designed to increase access to high quality and culturally relevant summer and afterschool programming for elementary and middle school youth. In total, $8.3 million was distributed to 12 People-of-Color-Led organizations and 7 Place-Based Partnerships (representing 26 organizations). The cohort represents dynamic, engaging youth development work and has fostered a richer landscape of services across King County In January of last year, the SOWA Best Starts team was gearing up to enter the final assessment season, collecting data on programs’ gains, and planning to close out the inaugural cycle with a bang. When COVID hit, communities across the county (and the world) scrambled to support each … [ ]