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Flynn’s Harp: Craves on College Success Foundation’s first decade

A decade on from its launch as a unique program designed to bring a college education within the reach of kids from the poorest neighborhoods, first in Washington State then in the "Other Washington," College Success Foundation is ready to see its model transformed into a national effort.

Bob Craves, then a top executive with Costco Wholesale Corp., became immersed in the educational challenges facing the most at-risk students, first as chair of the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board, then as co-chair of a special state commission to examine the future of higher education.

It was the work of that commission, called the 2020 commission on the Future of Post-Secondary Education, that made it clear to Craves that "the poorest kids have very little chance of getting their baccalaureate degree unless they have some real resources, both capital and human, to get through the process."

The commission created by then-Gov. Gary Locke recommended creation of a statewide advocacy group to bring about the necessary changes so higher-ed opportunities would come about for the most at-risk kids.

But Craves, in his to-the-point style, recalled saying "if there’s no money in it, nobody’s going to pay any attention."

So 10 years ago this spring, Craves co-founded with Ann-Ramsey Jenkins what was originally the Washington Education Foundation, designed to bring mentoring and scholarship dollars to ensure college-education opportunity to the Seattle area’s most at-risk kids.

Craves, who was part of the original executive team when Costco was founded in 1983 and was senior vice president of membership and marketing when he retired, brought his corporate contacts and business acumen to the fund-raising and operations of the organization.

But the vision for what soon became the College Success Foundation was never just the at-risk kids in the Seattle area, nor was it meant to expand beyond its roots solely with the support of the private sector.

Craves realized that the program needed to be brought to the attention of Congress and decided the best way to achieve that was to create a second CSF unit in Washington, D.C. Thus four years ago the District of Columbia College Success Foundation, which Craves also serves as CEO, was launched.

"What we achieve in Washington, D.C., will be much higher in the radar screen because it’s such a political town," Craves said in an interview. "We’re arguably functioning in what is the lowest income and toughest of any school district in the country."

And the DC College Success Foundation carved out for itself there the most difficult schools of the most difficult district, three public and three charter high schools and six middle schools.

"Those schools graduated about 1,000 kids a year and we’ll be providing about 250 scholarships a year," Craves said.

And as the Foundation enters its second decade, part of what it helps achieve may well be Congressional action to provide programmatic funding for programs like the foundation that are emerging in other cities in the country.

Washington congressmen Jay Inslee, a Democrat, and Dave Reichert, a Republican who represents the district in which both Costco and the Foundation are headquartered, are co-sponsoring legislation to provide such funding.

The support from Costco executives from the outset, coupled, of course, with major support from the Gates Foundation, has been a key source of visibility and fund raising for the foundation.

The foundation administers funds donated to the Costco Scholarship Fund, also founded 10 years ago to provide for minority scholarships to Seattle University and the University of Washington. The 11th annual Costco breakfast will be Sept. 23 at Seattle U.

And as soon as the foundation cranked up in Washington, D.C., so did the Costco breakfast, where about 400 attended the first such event and produced enough donated dollars to fund 25 D.C. scholarships.

As for the future, Craves says "we set our goal at $1 billion in funds raised for scholarships over 20 years and through 10 years we’ve raised about $400 million. By the end of this school year, we will have awarded more than 7,000 scholarships and produced more than 2,000 graduates."

The foundation’s target will remain the State of Washington and the District of Columbia, meaning that as its model emerges in cities around the country, development of those programs will be left to leaders in those communities. Though Craves adds that the foundation would be available to provide program help in cities where that expertise might be helpful.

The first major effort beyond the Seattle area is taking place in Tacoma, where the city has agreed to spend $250,000 for a community effort to double the number of low-income students who graduate from high school and do well in college.

Craves has his eye on future foundation initiatives in Spokane and Yakima on the Eastside of Washington State.

"People in all these communities have come to understand that helping provide funding to aid low-income young people to get into college is somewhat of a driver of economic development," said Craves.

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(To view previous blog notes from Flynn’s Harp, click here http://www.emikeflynn.com/ , go to homepage and click on "blogs" tab)

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