Funded Education Projects

United Way's education focus area funds a variety of projects that ensure that children are successful in school. Current projects focus on middle school success, high school completion and transition to continuing development.

The Community Investment Grants listed below are one-year grants ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 each year.

Adelante Mujeres - Journey to College

Promotes healthy lifestyles and options for a positive future as they work to reduce risky behaviors and dropout rates, promote higher education, increase access to community resources and strengthen parental involvement. Recruitment is conducted in each school and intake data is gathered on each participant. The Journey to College initiative includes:

• Academic support
• Financial literacy and college readiness training
• Accessing resources from key partners
• Individual Development Accounts, 3:1
• Parent Involvement

Camp Fire – Survive to Thrive

This project provides 457 youth grades 6-12 in North and outer East Portland with academic support, inspiring enrichment activities, and mentoring and case management. Camp Fire partners with 11 Title-1 schools in Portland Public (PPS) and David Douglas (DDSD) school districts. Academic Priority (AP) youth comprise as high as 55% of the student population and free and reduced lunch rates reach as high as 88% at these schools. Program services include:

• Academic support
• Step-It-Up-To-Thrive curriculum: Youth identify their "Sparks," or interests
• Mentoring
• Hands-On Learning
• Service Learning

Concordia University – Launch Pad

The joint mission of the Concordia/Faubion Partnership is to work together to promote life-long learning within our diverse community by developing opportunities for students, families, and teachers to transform education by improving academic achievement of all students, deepening services offered students, and preparing post secondary-ready students through immersion in the “culture of college.” They support students to succeed academically by teaching literacy, tutoring students with special needs, adapting responsive projects (summer academy). Because they want students prepared to enroll in college or training, they will provide career and college mentoring, campus opportunities (library, campus overnight, events).

IRCO – School Success

Services will honor the cultural tradition of these students by including parents/caregivers.  Culturally and linguistically appropriate activities will include (1) out-of-school group learning via workshops, homework help, or literacy groups; (2) individualized or small group in-home tutoring, and (3) informal mentoring.  Out-of-school group learning activities will cover topics like building literacy in English and Native Languages; honoring and remembering cultural history; or study skills.  In-home tutoring will provide constructive learning within the home environment with volunteer tutors.  IRCO's existing mentor base will be enhanced with young adult community leaders in ethnic organizations as informal mentors, which have proven effective to bridge the gap for newcomers.

Janus Youth – Food Works Academic Youth Leadership Program (FW)

A youth-led project, FW reflects the vision/work of youth leaders in low-income North Portland neighborhoods.  FW supports youth to develop/strengthen transferable skills that will benefit them in school/future employment including direct communication, strong attendance habits, goal setting, and group decision- making.  Youth are encouraged to focus individualized learning on topics including team leadership, business/marketing, agricultural skills, health/nutrition, or writing/communications.  FW also emphasizes creative problem solving by using the youth-run business and broader project leadership to develop critical thinking, goal setting and action planning skills with youth.  The proposed project will focus on: 

• Academic Success
• Higher Education/Vocational Training
• Individual Development Account (IDA) project
• Community Service/Civic Engagement
• Community Engagement in School/Family Support Policy

Mt. Scott Learning Center – Transitions Program

Currently MSLC provides support to its Academic Priority (AcP) students under the federal High School Graduation Initiative (HSGI). This initiative is aimed at combating dropout rates by identifying AcP students disengaged from the traditional high schools and providing them with re-entry services in non-traditional environments. Since more than 70% of MSLC students are AcP, MSLC has found that a more intensive case management project is needed to ensure these students graduate high school with a plan for post-secondary success. The Transitions case management project would fit into the HSGI model by focusing intensive services on AcP students most ready to graduate. Additionally, MSLC is creating a workforce development project to serve low-income youth through case management, career classes, and work experience. The Transitions case management project (funded through the United Way grant) also aligns well with the workforce development focus of assisting students to complete high school while developing a concrete career pathway plan.

Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) - Literacy Project

The Literacy Expansion Project will provide resources for 60 additional students to participate in a proven remedial literacy curriculum that includes hands-on active learning software as well as teacher lead group discussions and individual support. Students will be identified for this curriculum through initial intake testing, and teacher referrals both internally (ECA) and externally through our youth advocates in area high schools and participation within the NAYA Learning Center.

Open Meadow (OM) – Step Up/Equity to Excellence (E2E)

E2E will integrate OM's Equity work into the fabric of the organization directly impacting our students, creating the tools, resources, and practices that will help strengthen students' cultural identity and community connection, keep them engaged in school as they transition to high school, and help them achieve the credits needed to persist to graduation with the skills and resources they need for life and post-secondary success.
E2E will incorporate the following into OM's relationship-based model:

• On-going Student Supports
• Family Engagement
• Unity Retreats
• On-going training: for students, staff, and Board of Directors based on the 'Courageous Conversations About Race' curriculum.
• Equity Team: meets twice monthly to oversee the initiative.
• CARE Team: identifies specific teaching strategies that engage students of color particularly

Self Enhancement Inc (SEI) – Youth Potential Realized

This "wrap-around" approach has proven successful. Ninety-eight percent of students graduate from high school within four years, in contrast to 59 percent district-wide. More than 85 percent of SEI students continue on to pursue higher education or occupational training, many of them being the first in their families to do so.  In 2009, 98 percent of SEI students advanced to the next grade level on time; 89 percent maintained regular school attendance (at 90 percent or higher); and 94 percent received 0-1 referrals for inappropriate behavior.

To accomplish these outcomes, SEI focuses on the following:

• Case Management
• School-based Services
• After-school Program Additional Activities focus on gangs, relationships, and conflict resolution skills
• Summer Program
• Transition Into Adulthood Program
• Parent  Involvement and Support

Todos Juntos – Preventions and Interventions for Underserved Youth

Todos Juntos provides universal projects in Homework Club, Project Alert, soccer and other structured sports / recreational activities. Core projects targeting at-risk youth will include Service Learning/Construction, Photo Voice, Boys Council and Girls Circle; national studies of these curricula have shown that participation promotes critical thinking, analysis and problem solving. These curricula are provided in both English and in Spanish. Todos Juntos facilitators are from participants' own culture, giving them the capacity to facilitate monolingual Spanish speakers and assist in their community adjustment. By offering these projects in Spanish by bilingual and bicultural staff from the youth's own cultural community, they connect students to history and to personal and community identity.