Communities In Schools of Federal Way relies on businesses in the community who support us and our mission to help students successfully learn, stay in school, and prepare for life. One of our biggest supporters in Federal Way is Weyerhaeuser.

Weyerhaeuser is involved in many avenues of the forest products industry. They grow and harvest trees for use in products that are fundamental to human needs. They recognize trees as a remarkable, renewable resource and conduct business in environmentally sustainable and socially responsible ways.

Weyerhaeuser is a company that emphasizes strong leadership, unwavering values, and talent in their employees. They have a rich history of environmental stewardship, customer commitment, and community involvement. Did you know? Weyerhaeuser made the top 10 list in Universum’s 2006 ranking of the top 100 socially responsible companies.

Last year, the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation awarded Communities In Schools of Federal Way a grant of $15,000 for development and sustainability of CORE and PASS Programs. Each year, Weyerhaeuser has been a major annual sponsor of the Literacy Breakfast in February with a strong presence there as well.

Weyerhaeuser allows and actively encourages employee participation as volunteer mentors and offers recognition grant opportunities to employees who engage in community service.

Karen Veitenhans, Vice President and Executive Director of Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation says the following about their ongoing involvement; “Communities In Schools of Federal Way supports schools and helps kids succeed. We recognize our employee’s support of education efforts. It means a lot to them and to us to be able to supplement schools and student’s needs in the community surrounding Weyerhaeuser.”

Visit Weyerhaeuser online to learn more.

The number of different languages spoken in FWPS, presents one of many challenges teachers face that have nothing to do with a student’s academic ability.

With 105 languages in Federal Way schools, interpreters stay busy

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Wow. I attended the “Coffee and Conversation” meeting put together by the City of Federal Way today. They do this great thing where they convene community members just to talk – brilliant!

Each get-together is focused on one segment of the community such as business, education, non-profits and (today’s group) the faith-based community.

The conversation, networking, idea sharing and possibilites that came out of thet meeting were awesome! People were exchanging business cards, getting on email lists, scheduling meetings – all in the name of working together to make the Federal Way community a better place.

Personally, I am excited because I will use some of my contacts to connect resources to kids in Federal Way schools.  I’m sure many others left with ideas of how they could partner to work together as well, to serve more, do more, help more and ultimately – change more.

This is the power of community.  Together, we are just better.

Education | Kent School District joins trend of minority students outnumbering whites | Seattle Times Newspaper

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Federal Way – Communities In Schools (CIS) of Federal Way and Red Canoe Credit Union are partnering to collect school supplies for low-income students in Federal Way Public Schools.

From July 27^th through August 14^th, Red Canoe Credit Union will be collecting school supplies in a 14 foot canoe in the lobby of their Pacific Highway Branch in Federal Way. Red Canoe Credit Union will then match
pound-for-pound new school supplies.

“This is a great way to leverage resources from the community,” said Tracy Oster, Executive Director of CIS of Federal Way. “By partnering with Red Canoe Credit Union, and collecting their matching donations, we can serve more students and help more families.”

The Federal Way Community can help by donating supplies, volunteering to sort supplies and stuff backpacks or collecting supplies at a business location. Supplies can be dropped off between July 27 and August 14^th at the Red Canoe Pacific Highway Branch (33616 Pacific Highway in Federal Way), 8:30 am-5:30pm Monday-Friday.

CIS of Federal Way works to connect community resources with kids in schools. For more information on how you can be involved in this project, contact Tracy Oster at CIS of Federal Way at 253-528-0847 or tracyo@federalwaychamber.com or Bridget O’Conner at Red Canoe Credit Union at (253) 942-3111 or boconnor@redcanoecu.com.    

Federal Way – Communities In Schools (CIS) of Federal Way is pleased to announce that long-time Board member, Aline Carnahan will be a director on the CIS Washington State Board of Directors. Carnahan will continue her service as a director on the CIS of Federal Way board as well.

The CIS State office invited Carnahan and a two other affiliate board members to join the Board and give the local affiliate’s perspective. Carnahan will serve for one year and have the option to renew for another year.

“Carnahan is a great representative of Federal Way and a committed volunteer for youth and education,” commented Executive Director, Tracy Oster. “The CIS of Washington State Board is lucky to have her energy and her expertise and CIS of Federal Way is happy to have her as our voice at the State level.”

The CIS of Washington State office works to support the work of its’ 12 local affiliates, including Federal Way. Locally, CIS of Federal Way works to bring community resources to kids in the Federal Way School District. For more information, contact Tracy Oster at 253-528-0847 or visit our website at www.cisfederalway.org.    

As the Executive Director of Communities In Schools of Federal Way, I have to say, I love my job and I love my community.  One of the biggest challenges our staff and Board of Directors face is getting people in our community to volunteer.  I don’t think this is different from other communities. In fact, in talking to other volunteer recruiters, they say we are actually doing a “pretty good” job in Federal Way of getting people engaged. But “pretty good” just isn’t good enough.

FWPS has over 22,000 students – and of those, approximately 43% of them are eligible for free or reduced lunch. (The number this year will most likely be even higher.) That makes nearly 10,000 students in our school distinct living at or below the federal poverty level. Often these students face challenges to their success in school which have nothing to do with their academic abilities. Every one of those students – along with many others – would benefit from a one-to-one relationship with a caring adult.

Each school year, we get a list of students who are referred to our PASS Mentoring Program. And each year, we end up with students that don’t get mentors, simply because there are not enough adults who take action and volunteer. I know that Federal Way and many other communities have caring adults who have a heart for education and youth. We get a lot of interest on our website and from the community. However, “having a heart” isn’t enough – we need people to take action.

I recently had a Board member who suggested we weren’t being “aggressive enough” in our recruitment of mentors. I believe what he meant was, there is such a need in the schools that we really need to figure out how to increase our mentor recruitment efforts exponentially so we can come close to serving the number of students that would really benefit from a one-to-one relationship with a caring adult. 

The research on mentoring clearly shows that having a mentor can make a positive impact on a child in many ways. Children who have a mentor have improved academic performance, higher graduation rates, increased communication skills, improved peer/family relationships, improved self-esteem. In Federal Way, students who participated in our PASS Mentoring Program last year showed a 79% increase in attendance and 95% of the students were promoted to the next grade. Mentoring works!

I know that people care and they understand the benefits of mentoring. What about you? Is this you? Do you have the heart for youth and education AND are ready to take action? Check out www.cisfederalway.org or call CIS of Federal Way at 253-528-0847 to sign up today. It is time.

Longtime Voice for Youth Will Be honored In the Category of
Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged

Alexandria, Va. – Communities In Schools, the nation’s largest dropout prevention organization, is proud to announce that its founder, Bill Milliken, will be a recipient of the 2009 National Jefferson Award for Public Service from the American Institute for Public Service.  Milliken will be honored in the category of Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged for his forty years of work helping young people graduate and prepare for life.

“I am touched and honored to receive this award.  Caring about young people is not just a job, it’s a calling, and it is the foundation of all that we do at Communities In Schools,” said Milliken.  “Each year, one out of three young people in America doesn’t gradate high school.  This is a fundamental moral justice and civil rights issue that affects all of us, and it’s an issue that we cannot ignore,” Milliken continued.

Milliken, one of the country’s leading youth advocates, began his work on the streets of Harlem before launching Communities In Schools in Atlanta in 1977.  He has received numerous awards, and has authored several books, the most recent being The Last Dropout: Stop the Epidemic!  For more information on The Last Dropout, visit www.thelastdropout.com.

Regarded as the “Nobel Prize” for outstanding community and public service, the Jefferson Awards were founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Senator Robert Taft, Jr. and Sam Beard.  The awards are based on the simple but powerful premise that one person can make a difference in the lives of others.  Past national winners include former president Jimmy Carter, former secretary of state Colin Powell and advocate Marion Wright Edelman.

Milliken will be honored at the Jefferson Awards annual Gala Dinner and National Ceremony in Washington, D.C., on June 16, 2009.

Communities In Schools is the nation’s largest dropout prevention organization, working in more than 3,200 K-12 public schools.  Founded in 1977, Communities In Schools is headquartered in Alexandria, Va.  Today, 1.2 million young people annually receive direct services through more than 200 Communities In Schools local affiliates in 27 states and the District of Columbia.  Between 80-90 percent of Communities In Schools’ tracked students show improvement in academic achievement, attendance, behavior and promotion to the next grade level.  Visit the website at www.communitiesinschools.org.

School dropouts affect us all | Federal Way letters

School dropouts affect us all | Federal Way letters

Today, 11:01 AM · UPDATED

By KYRA LOW
Federal Way Mirror Reporter

Jun 12 2009, 12:07 PM · UPDATED

Federal Way Mirror Reporter Kyra Low can be reached at klow@fedwaymirror.com or (253) 925-5565.