For the Reporter

Lumina Foundation announced Wednesday that the Road Map Project region – South Seattle and South King County – will be among the first 20 metro areas in America to partner with the foundation in a mobilization effort designed to increase the number of local residents with postsecondary credentials.

The collaborative effort will help the region accelerate progress toward the Road Map Project’s region-wide attainment goal for students attending school in South Seattle and South King County. Lumina will provide access to significant technical and planning assistance, data tools, flexible funding and guidance from a network of national thought leaders.

The Road Map Project is a community-wide effort aimed at dramatically improving student achievement from cradle to college and career in South King County and South Seattle, the county’s areas of greatest need. The project’s goal is to double the number of students in the region who are on track to graduate from college or earn a career credential by 2020, and to close opportunity gaps.

“Our region is honored and excited to have the opportunity to work closely with Lumina Foundation,” said Dr. Jill Wakefield, chancellor of the Seattle Community Colleges and co-founder of the Puget Sound Coalition for College and Career Readiness. “Our goals could not be more aligned. In 2010, we started the Road Map Project in South King County and South Seattle to double the number of students on track to earn a college degree or career credential by 2020. The support from Lumina will help us accelerate our region’s work toward our goal and learn from the best work happening nationally.”

Through the initiative, the Road Map Project, which is staffed by the Community Center for Education Results, will be eligible for an allocation of $200,000 from Lumina over a three-year period. The allocation will be tied to the achievement of goals. The overall effort connects to Goal 2025, a national goal to increase the percentage of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025. The guidance offered to South Seattle and South King County by national partners will be the most crucial part of the movement.

Project leaders from South Seattle and South King County and the other 19 cities have already begun to participate in webinars with the national partners to prepare them for the upcoming months of strategic planning. Community representatives and project leaders are currently in Indianapolis for a two-day kick-off convening and workshop being led by Lumina.

“It is our hope that Lumina’s support can fan the flames that are already burning in our partnership cities, improving results there and showing cities across the country how this gets done and just how transformational education can be for communities’ social, economic and civic strength,” said Haley Glover, strategy director at Lumina Foundation heading up this work.

LINKS:

www.roadmapproject.org

www.luminafoundation.org