The other day one of my long-term members of the HR Executive Forum brought The College Success Foundation to my attention, and I asked her to put together a guest blog post to share what she knows about this great organization.
Suzanne Elshult, HRNow
The College Success Foundation is a great resource for finding talented,
diverse employees to fill openings at your organization. CSF is seeking to
partner with organizations to place their graduates. This is not a
recruiting firm. Their primary mission is to provide support to low income
students to attend college and to reach their full potential in life. For
more information about this program, call Sarah Graham, Senior Program
Officer, Alumni at (425)416-2002 or email her at
sgraham@collegesuccessfoundation.org. For more information read the CSF Overview below.
Pamela Taylor, Vice President Human Resources, HomeStreet Bank
The College Success Foundation has 10 years of proven experience inspiring and supporting under-served, low-income students to finish high school, and providing the financial support and mentoring they need to succeed in college. Many low-income students are unable to reach their full potential in life because they are constrained by economic and other barriers that prevent them from succeeding in high school and college. At the College Success Foundation, we’ve spent the past ten years developing a successful, results-backed model for how to remove these barriers and unlock students’ potential. 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. We are passionate about what we do, and we promise to stop at nothing to help America’s children succeed in college, the workplace, and life. When we help our children succeed, we help our communities and America succeed.
Our Success to Date
We are proud of the success of our students in Washington State. The following metrics show the progress of the College Success Foundation from its inception through the year 2009.
• Total number of Washington State scholarship dollars disbursed – $107 million
• Total number of Washington State scholarships awarded – 5964
• Total number of Washington State college graduates – 1600
College Success Foundation Graduates are a Great, Diverse Workforce Talent Pool
Currently, there are nearly 1,600 graduates from our five scholarship programs. Of those, 71% are graduates of color (breakdown below). In addition, we will graduate approximately 350 scholars each year in the future.
Ethnicity of College Success Foundation Graduates %
• Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander 17.0%
• Black or African American 17.8%
• Hispanic 25.9%
• Multi-racial 7.3%
• Native American 3.1%
• White or Caucasian American 28.8%
Many of these students are first generation college graduates – the first in their family to even attend college. While attending school, they have worked many hours to help support their families. Because of this, they have a very strong work ethic, are eager to improve their lives, and are ready to serve. They attend and graduate from colleges and universities, primarily in Washington State, but all over the country. Over 18% of College Success Foundation alumni are completing or have completed post-baccalaureate programs. Not only are they eager for employment, they have a commitment to give back. Over 10% of our scholars are contributing through College Success Foundation initiatives, including mentoring future scholars, volunteering at summer programs, and speaking about their experiences at high schools.
Next Steps…
The College Success Foundation is looking to build relationships with employers in the Northwest to help place these talented, hard-working young people in the workforce. With your help we can continue to build a brighter future for our communities, one student at a time.