Empowering alumni of care: How CSF is supporting college success
May is National Foster Care Month and throughout the month, College Success Foundation will spotlight how we support college students who are alumni of care.
Students who have experienced foster care face obstacles to succeeding in college that go well beyond academic achievement and preparing for college. Recognizing students’ unique challenges, we provide additional trauma-informed programs and services to help them succeed.
CSF provides direct, student-facing services through our program pathway as well as: scholarships; meaningful collaboration with our community partners and practitioners in the field; and focused advocacy efforts on legislation and policy directly related to the students we serve.
Passport to Career coaches
Passport to Career coaches Suneeta (Suni) Eisenberg and Osbaldo (Ozzy) Arroyo work arm-in-arm with college students who have experienced foster care or unaccompanied homelessness.
These coaches empower students to develop self-awareness and self-confidence. They also help students navigate the complex college financial aid landscape.
Working closely with campus staff, Passport to Career coaches ensure students persist beyond issues that affect their educational success. Our coaches’ goal is to find the career path that best matches each student’s skills, abilities, interests and experiences.
Washington State Governors’ Scholarship for Foster Youth
The Washington State Governors’ Scholarship for Foster Youth is a scholarship program that helps young people from foster care continue their education and earn a college degree. The scholarship was created in 2001 with then-Washington Governor Gary Locke who continues to steadfastly steward the scholarship, with the support of Governor Jay Inslee, The Honorable Chris Gregoire and other former Washington state governors. This scholarship has assisted hundreds of young alumni of foster care to graduate from college, at a rate more than 15 times the national average.
Washington Passport Network continues to grow
The Washington Passport Network is a statewide collective impact initiative, led by CSF, that is committed to supporting students from foster care, unaccompanied homeless youth, and the adult professionals they rely on. We provide information, knowledge, and tools to improve practices and student outcomes to our members–building their capacity to better serve students. Over the last five years, the Washington Passport Network more than doubled from 300 to over 700 members.
The network identifies effective student support practices, model policies and relevant research. We facilitate regional and statewide professional development events for our members, such as the annual Passport to Careers Conference, which will be held May 23 and 24, 2023. And, we share research, stories and accomplishments of members and the students they serve on our Washington Passport Network blog.
In the last year, 943 students were served through the Passport to Careers program and 32 students participated in the Passport to Apprenticeship pathway. Since the program’s inception in 2008, 7,460 students have been served.
Advocating for policy change and funding
In collaboration with our partners, CSF focuses its year-round policy and advocacy efforts to ensure our support systems for students who have experienced foster care continue to work effectively.
CSF puts student success at the heart of everything we do––which means we center on the individual needs of each student. We profoundly value this approach in our work with students who have experienced foster care to enroll, persist, and complete their post-secondary programs or apprenticeship.