Advancing Student Success in Tacoma

Since 2000 the College Success Foundation (CSF), formerly known as the Washington Education Foundation, has helped nearly 4,000 Washington State low-income, high-potential students enroll in college. CSF provides scholarship assistance to students as well as a variety of support services in middle school, high school and college.

The College Success Foundation's strategy is to:

• Develop public-private funding partnerships
• Provide innovative programs to assist low-income, high-potential students and students of color attend college and obtain bachelor's degrees
• Advocate for increased college access opportunities
• Replicate the CSF organizational model and programs in other places

Since 2001 approximately 1,500 students from Lincoln, Mount Tahoma and Foss high schools have benefited from the opportunity to go to college as recipients of the Washington State Achievers Scholarship Program, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and managed by CSF. When this program concludes in the three Tacoma high schools in 2010, hundreds of Tacoma students will have completed their bachelor's degrees and hundreds more will be working to complete their degrees through 2015.

Although many Tacoma students will benefit from this program, there are thousands of additional Tacoma students who will need similar help if they are to be successful in school, in college and in life. It will take as many committed individuals and organizations as possible to ensure their success, including parents, teachers, administrators, mentors, churches, businesses, social service organizations, government and foundations.

The College Success Foundation is working with the Act Six Leadership and Scholarship Initiative at the Northwest Leadership Foundation (www.actsix.org), the Merle Palmer Minority Scholarship Foundation (www.palmerscholars.org) and involved Tacoma citizens from business, education and civic institutions to develop a business plan to create an organization in Tacoma - the Tacoma College Success Foundation (TCSF). The mission of the TCSF will be to help Tacoma students succeed in school, attend college and graduate with degrees that will help them compete in the 21st century world economy and prepare them to be good citizens.

Upon completion of the business plan, CSF intends to seek donor assistance to provide start-up funds. The TCSF staff and board will then begin an intensive fundraising effort to provide support services and scholarships similar to the Achievers Scholarship Program. The goal will be to create a Tacoma Achievers Scholarship Program which can expand into all Tacoma public high schools. Ideally, the funding will be in place by January 1, 2009 so that the support services and scholarship selection process will be in place to select the first class of Tacoma Achievers Scholars by the fall of 2011.

To learn more about the plans for the Tacoma College Success Foundation and to receive updates, contact: Steve Thorndill, CSF Executive Director, Scholarship Programs at sthorndill@collegesuccessfoundation.org.

1605 NW Sammamish Road, Suite 100
Issaquah, WA 98027
425.416.2000
www.collegesuccessfoundation.org