Root causes run deep.
There’s no single solution,
and we know we can’t fix it on our own.
United Way of the Columbia-Willamette has been bringing our community together to do good for nearly 100 years. We’re uniquely positioned to connect and support the people, nonprofits, businesses and government agencies working hard to address poverty in our region.
By bridging gaps and helping smart organizations work even smarter, we’re revolutionizing the way our communities are served.
In 2015, Oregon saw a two-point graduation rate increase. Good news! But not as good as the news coming out of Jefferson High in Portland. Eighty percent of students at Jefferson graduated on time, an increase of 14 percentage points in just one year. Read more
After being considered for closure, Jefferson High was transformed in 2011 into Jefferson High School Middle College for Advanced Studies. The new model provided the majority African-American student body - most of whom are low-income - with extra resources and the option to take college courses.
At the same time, Portland Public Schools tapped United Way nonprofit partner Self Enhancement Inc. to help turn things around. When the district was seeing graduation rates among African-American kids as low as 44 percent, 98 percent of SEI’s low-income African-American program enrollees were graduating on time. Eighty-five percent were going on to college.
SEI launched a “Whole School Model” of services at Jefferson, offering comprehensive mentoring, tutoring and 24/7 wraparound support services to every enrolled student.
“It’s not that kids can’t handle it academically, it’s that there are so many other barriers,” SEI President and CEO Tony Hopson, Sr. said. “It gets in the way of showing up to school every day with a bright mind ready to learn.”
SEI’s comprehensive approach looks to boost student success by helping kids’ families meet basic needs, while offering additional support through counseling and parenting classes.
“What we’ve been able to prove, is that with the right support African-American students can learn at the same level, if not higher, than anyone else,” Hopson said.
SEI’s success in Jefferson helped shape the model for United Way’s, and co-funder Multnomah County’s, High School Graduation initiative, serving 800 kids in two school districts. “United Way is coordinating partners and evaluating progress to identify what works to keep those kids in school and get a diploma,” said Keith Thomajan, CEO of United Way of the Columbia-Willamette.
“After a few years, as we see the results, we’ll use our regional footprint to do it again, in other high need school districts. In a state that’s 49th in the nation in high school graduation rates, we think that’s the way to turn things around.”
A child’s chances of succeeding in school are largely determined before they even set foot in one. We’re proud to co-lead big efforts in two counties that connect educators, parents, funders and policymakers to work together to help every kid get ready for school.
All too often families of color get lost in an educational system that was not built to include their needs. We’re currently working with two school districts, serving more than 800 kids, and culturally-specific nonprofits to identify the types of support that make the biggest impact, then building a scalable blueprint for success for our entire region.
Our Hands On Greater Portland program connects over 10,000 volunteers a year to projects that directly support kids in our region. Hands On volunteers serve as tutors and mentors; they stock food banks, sort donated children’s books and they transform schools in need of TLC. Volunteers also provide vital capacity to the nonprofits serving kids in our region - in fact they contributed a whopping $1.5 million in service value to the Portland metro region in 2015.
These strategies only work when
our community is United behind them.
