2013Report to the Community 2012-2013 College Success Foundation We provide the unique integrated system of supports and scholarships to inspire underserved, low-income students to finish high school, graduate from college and succeed in life. What a team! CSF Scholars like Dajir (DJ) Jigre of Kent, Washington, (on left) and his CSF colleague Jose Francisco Navarro (Franco) lead and succeed on campus. DJ and Franco are familiar faces to many on Eastern Washington University’s (EWU) campus. Together they were elected campus leaders for the 2013-2014 school year at EWU—Franco as ASB President and DJ as ASB Vice President. DJ is a CSF Achievers Scholar and Franco is a CSF Realize the Dream Scholar. Showing great promise, these two CSF Scholars are leaders with bright futures. The numbers presented in this report come from a variety of internal data sources managed by CSF’s Research and Evaluation Department. In cases where numbers are managed in a formal data system (e.g.- financials; graduation rates), exact figures are presented. In cases where numbers are not managed in a formal data system (e.g.- program service numbers), rounded estimates based on internal tracking are presented. Thank you for your support of the College Success Foundation (CSF) over the past 13 years. During the 2012 academic year, we surpassed the 3,000 mark in four-year college graduates. The following outcomes, which include both Washington state and Washington, D.C., were reached by the end of the 2012 year. 11,308 Cumulative CSF Scholarships Awarded 3,028 Cumulative Bachelor’s Degrees $159,994,022 2013 is a year of change for us. Our co-founders—Bob Craves and Cumulative Scholarship Dollars Disbursed Ann Ramsay-Jenkins—are retiring from the day-to-day operations of the College Success Foundation while still remaining on our Board of Directors. We owe them tremendous thanks for their vision, unwavering support and compassion over the years. They have been CSF’s strongest advocates to whom we owe its very existence. We are welcoming a new CEO—Yolanda L. Watson Spiva, Ph.D.—to lead us on the next leg of our journey. We look forward to many productive, successful years ahead. Thank you again for your continued involvement. Scan for more detailed results. Two people, one dream Bob Craves and Ann Ramsay-Jenkins believed in the same thing—that a public-private partnership could help thousands of low-income, underserved young men and women go to college, earn a bachelor’s degree and find a brighter future. Now after 13 years, they have done just that. Bob and Ann’s grassroots dream has grown into one foundation that has granted more than 11,000 scholarships and disbursed nearly $160 million. Bob and Ann’s journey began when they served on Governor Gary Locke’s 2020 Commission on the Future of Post-Secondary Education. “Probably the most startling statistic at the time, outside of the fact that less than 10 percent of low-income students earned any type of post-secondary degree, was that over one-third of children in our state were living in poverty,” recalls Bob. For Bob and Ann—the students are their greatest pride. “I have always contended that the students do all the work”, says Bob. “We at CSF help them prepare for and afford a higher education but when they arrive at college, it is all up to them.” “Lots of people create ideas to provide outstanding community service, but seldom does the visionary have the tools and dedication to make the idea work. Bob not only had the vision—but additionally the skill to make the dream come true,” says Jim Sinegal, former Costco CEO. “Our students have met the challenges of college and succeeded,” says Ann. “We now have thousands of graduates who are contributors to our society in education, law, medicine and social services.” Ann’s commitment to the students has been her driving force. “Ann is passionate about doing good,” says William H. Gates Sr. Both Bob and Ann remain on the Board of Directors. 2 College Success Foundation 2013 Report to the Community New leader, bright future College access is a passion for Yolanda L. Watson Spiva, Ph.D., who became College Success Foundation president and CEO in September 2013, succeeding retiring CEO Bob Craves. Yolanda has had a rising educational and professional career; she most recently served as the CEO/executive director of Project GRAD Atlanta Inc., a nonprofit with the mission to collaborate with the Atlanta Public Schools in order to increase the number of students graduating from high school and college. The Board of Directors unanimously selected Dr. Spiva based on her record of leading and fundraising for nonprofits in the field of education, her understanding of public/private partnerships, her national experience and her strong executive and personal qualities. “We believe we have selected a leader who will build on what the College Success Foundation is and has accomplished,” says CSF Board Chair Joe Gaffney. Yolanda’s 20-year career spans a range of leadership, general management, public affairs, operations and academic officer positions. “Yolanda will bring her passion, leadership and vision to the CSF mission, and we look forward to the value she will add to take the work to the next level of excellence,” says board member Tricia Raikes. “The work of college readiness, access and success is about providing hope, realizing aspirations and fulfilling the ‘American Dream’ for students who perceive or have been told that college is not in their futures. My goal as CSF president and CEO is to debunk those myths and help our students become college graduates with a focus on ‘paying it forward.’” Yolanda earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Spelman College, her master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. degree in higher education from Georgia State University. College Success Foundation 2013 Report to the Community 3 proven model of success = supports + scholarships The College Success Foundation has a proven model of success to inspire underserved, low-income students to finish high school and provides the unique integrated system of supports and scholarships they need to graduate from college and succeed in life. Our approach is to intervene early, providing students and parents with the inspiration, incentives, mentoring and financial supports they need to make a college degree possible. CSF focuses on districts with high percentages of low-income populations and where both school district and local community are involved and committed to working with CSF as partners with a laser focus on improving high school graduation rates and post-secondary completion. 4 College Success Foundation 2013 Report to the Community DC transforms lives Tacoma unlocks Yasmine Arrington’s achievements have students’ potential been extraordinary, which is one reason Natalie Hart always knew she the College Success Foundation - DC would pursue higher education. named her a Leadership 1000 Scholar. Yasmine is founder and executive director of “My mother pushed her children to go to ScholarCHIPS, a non-profit organization established college,” Natalie said. Her father did not graduate her junior year of high school to create a support from high school and her mother turned down a network for a demographic she knows well. scholarship to help support her grandparents. “I am a child of an incarcerated parent,” Yasmine Natalie found her way to college even though no says. “When I received a scholarship from the one blazed the trail ahead. She was selected for College Success Foundation, it was one of the best the CSF Achievers Scholarship during her junior things that happened to me.” year at Foss High School in Tacoma, Washington. Later she was also named a Costco Scholar. Yasmine, who also lost her mother, transforms her experiences—whether challenges or “The scholarship made it clear that college could opportunities—into a chance to make an impact be a reality; somebody was willing to invest in my for others. That’s what ScholarCHIPS is all about— success,” Natalie said. support and inspiration for children of incarcerated Today Natalie is a 2011 graduate of the University parents to attend college. of Washington with two bachelor’s degrees and A junior at Elon University, she double majors in is an admissions advisor/recruiter for UW Tacoma. strategic communications and history with a minor She plans to pursue her master’s degree in in human services. And where will her degree take business administration. her? She’s still weighing the options. Law or divinity Natalie is driven to give back to her community. school? A master’s in nonprofit management? Or She serves on CSF’s Alumni Board and was maybe run ScholarCHIPS fulltime and try to land honored as a Seafair Princess in the 2013 a radio or TV job to bring more attention to her Scholarship Program for Women, championing cause. CSF’s Hometown Mentor Program. “I don’t know in which order this all will unfold,” “I think one of the greatest things you can do she says. “But I am excited to go through the for your community is to uplift others who don’t journey.” know how to get where you are,” Natalie said. Scan for Scan for Tacoma video. DC video. College Success Foundation 2013 Report to the Community 5 supports middle school 4,000 Early College Readiness middle school students CSF served approximately CSF offers early career and college awareness beginning in seventh grade. CSF places AmeriCorps 4,000 middle school college and career coaches in each of our middle students in Washington schools. Students learn to plan for high school state in the 2012-2013 and college, explore possible career options and school year through take college-and career-ready academic courses in 123,665 the college and career preparation.