Providing Tools for Post-Secondary Success: SI/Olympia, WA (Northwestern Region)

In order to achieve our 2031 Big Goal of investing in the dreams of half a million women and girls through access to education, we must go beyond our Dream Programs: the Live Your Dream Awards and Dream It, Be It. Other hands-on club work that increases access to education leading to economic empowerment for women and girls facing obstacles to their success are counted towards the Big Goal. These projects are called Big Goal Accelerator Projects. They provide clubs with a unique opportunity to further our global mission while honoring the local needs of women and girls facing obstacles to their education and economic empowerment.

A fantastic example of a club that created a project to meet a local need through access to education is SI/Olympia, WA (Northwestern Region) and their Steps in Opportunity project.

Steps in Opportunity

Steps in Opportunity focuses on providing financial assistance for female-identifying students who need help purchasing technology to further their education. Students are in the final stages of their high school (or equivalent) education and are pursuing or plan to pursue a vocational certificate, technical certificate, or undergraduate degrees, and demonstrate financial need. The club provides up to $500 of reimbursement for technology that they students choose themselves. The club began this project in late 2019 when they realized there was a unique space for them to support female-identifying high school graduates in this way.

“For students who are from lower income families – schools generally give out Chromebooks for use through graduating high school. But what happens after they graduate? Our club realized that there was a technology gap between graduating high school and going into secondary education. Students cannot go without technology going into higher education,” says Club President Karen Hall.

To ensure that they were supporting the students who truly needed this assistance, the club wanted to be sure to consider non-traditional high school graduates such as GED or alternative school programs, and a wide range of higher educational paths. Additionally, the club saw that transitioning youth are highly at-risk of not further their education, and so any student identifying as female and in need is welcome to apply. The club also is mindful of the barriers of applying, and so they have kept the application very streamlined for the students.

Between the 2021-2023 club years, two students have benefitted from the project, and the club looks forward to continuing to offer this support.

(Pictured in photo: Hannah, one of the 2022-2023 recipients.)