1. August 2015 www.gatesfoundation.org
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
A family newly housed at Croft Place in West Seattle.
THE CHALLENGE
Washington State is a center of innovation and home to some
of the most successful businesses in the world, yet social
inequity and poverty persist. Two of every five children are
growing up in a family that struggles to pay for basic needs
such as food, rent and utilities.
Childhood trauma and adversity, including housing instability
and domestic violence, can lead to challenges in cognitive,
social-emotional, and language skills. Less than half of our
eligible 3- and 4-year olds are enrolled in state pre-K or Head
Start, about 25% of our students never graduate from high
school, and achievement/opportunity gaps widen along race
and income lines. Our young people are not prepared to
compete for the many local jobs that require a college degree.
Children in Washington State deserve better, but existing
systems are often uncoordinated or unable to focus on root
causes and prevention. To address this, we use a place-based
approach that aligns services and programs, builds the capacity
of our partners, and advances structural and racial equity—all
with the goal of better serving families and children.
Our Washington State work shows Bill and Melinda’s
commitment to improve the lives of children and families here
at home, where the foundation has its permanent headquarters
and where the Gates family has lived and worked for
generations.
THE OPPORTUNITY
There is no single solution to the challenges of poverty and
inequity, but working together across public, private, and
nonprofit sectors, in the places where children spend their
time – home, school and community – we can increase the
chances that all our children have safe, stable, nurturing
places to live, learn, and play.
Despite growing gaps in income and opportunity, education
has great power—even while it is affected by many factors
both in and out of school that prepare a child to learn.
Educational attainment, earning a college degree or credential,
is a powerful proxy for success because it correlates with
important lifetime outcomes including income, family
stability, health, and well-being.
Our Washington State work is community-driven, student-
centered, and supported by research and proven approaches.
We prioritize investments that reach the children and families
who are facing the highest barriers to success, especially low-
income families and historically underserved communities of
color. Outcomes for children and families are better when the
systems that serve them are working together.
Taken as a whole, the Washington State strategy is meant to
serve as a connector: of people to vital resources, of potential
to possibility, and of optimism to opportunity, that can
improve individual lives and put dreams within reach.
OUR GOAL: to create opportunities for all children in Washington State to thrive in stable families,
great schools,andstrongcommunities.

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OUR STRATEGY
Our strategy is built on partnerships across the public,
private, and nonprofit sectors—including the regional
philanthropic community—so that together we can create
opportunities for all children and families in Washington.
Our four interrelated areas of focus are:
 Early Learning, expanding access to high-quality pre-K
for more 3- and 4-year-olds.
 Education Pathways, improving education from K-12
through college completion, with emphasis on the Road
Map Project region in South King County.
 Homelessness and Family Stability, addressing housing,
health, trauma, and domestic violence to ensure that
every child has a safe place to call home.
 Strengthening Communities, engaging local networks,
sharing knowledge and supporting leadership to build
capacity and empower nonprofit partners.
AREAS OF FOCUS
Early Learning
Every parent wants the best for their children, and education
begins even before a student’s first step into the classroom.
We have been supporting Early Learning with partners in
Washington State since 2005, and in 2014 we expanded our
Early Learning work to improve access to high-quality pre-K
in states across the nation.
Children playing at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Home Center in Seattle.
We work with numerous national partners, and our key
partners for a coordinated approach in Washington are the
state Department of Early Learning and Thrive Washington.
By supporting early childhood educators and expanding
access to quality early learning opportunities, more children
will enter school equipped for ongoing academic success.
AT A GLANCE
 626,000, or 40%, of Washington children are
growing up in families that struggle to pay for basic
needs like food and housing (under 200% FPL or
$48,500 for a family of four).
 Less than half of Washington’s eligible 3- and 4-
year olds are enrolled in Head Start, ECEAP or a
similar pre-K program.
 There are nearly 32,500 homeless students in
Washington’s public schools, and that number has
grown every year since we started counting.
 476,000 students, or 45%, applied for free and
reduced price lunch at public schools.
 The 20-30 point achievement gap between the
highest and lowest achieving students falls on racial
lines and has not changed significantly since 1994.
 Washington ranks 46th in the nation for the
percentage of students going to college. By 2018,
two-thirds of all jobs in Washington will require a
college degree or credential.
Local Roots, Global Impact
In addition to our efforts to improve the lives of
Washington children and families, the foundation also
supports many global health and development
organizations based in Washington—such as PATH as
well as research centers at Washington’s public and
private colleges and universities. Our investments in
these organizations include funding for vaccine
research and development, international family
planning, support for small farmers, and many other
health and development priorities.
Funds for global impact are administered through our
Global Health, Global Development, and Global
Policy & Advocacy divisions.

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Education Pathways
A student’s whole pathway from pre-K to college matters,
not just one grade level or intervention. To achieve their full
potential, students should have access to great teaching, by
well-supported teachers, in a learning environment that is
personalized to their diverse needs and interests.
To strengthen learning environments across the full pathway,
we work with families, community partners, and school
systems to smooth critical transition points, drive
adjustments and improvements using data, personalize
learning to meet individual student needs, and develop
leaders at all levels—from students and parents to teachers,
principals, and superintendents.
We believe that student success depends not only on
teaching but also on the involvement of parents and social
service, health, housing, and community organizations that
help address the barriers or adversity into which they were
born. Our approach includes:
 Improved transitions from pre-K to elementary school,
middle school to high school, and high school to college;
 Data-driven decision making in all programs that focus
on student success;
 Quality instruction and leadership at the school, district
and state levels for continuous improvement;
 Advocacy to build public support for policies that lead to
student success;
 Alignment across the pre-K to college pathway and among
the health, housing, and social service systems that serve
students and families.
Effective Teaching & Learning
We work to support educators and improve teaching and
leadership in early learning settings and K-12 schools. Our
investments include innovative professional development,
empowering parents and students, tools to manage teacher
and principal evaluations, giving families the option of
public charter schools, and a principal leadership framework
aimed at improving student achievement.
Road Map Project
The Road Map Project in South King County is a
community-wide effort that includes seven school districts,
higher education institutions, early learning providers, and
nonprofits all dedicated to keeping over 120,000 students on
track from cradle to college, both in and out of school.
Community-driven priorities include parent and community
engagement, using data to set targets and rigorously measure
results, monitoring early-warning signs to make sure
students do not fall through the cracks, support for English
language learners, kindergarten readiness, 3rd-grade reading,
expansion of college access and raising completion rates,
and improving science, technology, engineering, and math
(STEM) skills.
The Community Center for Education Results coordinates
this collaborative effort, which we have been supporting
since 2010.
Participants in the Rainier Scholars program for promising students of
color meet with a teacher at Seattle’s Aki Kurose Middle School.

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Homelessness and Family Stability
Housing, trauma, and adversity have a profound impact on
children’s health and education, as well as on parents’ ability
to find and keep a job while providing social and emotional
support for their children. Homeless children have twice the
rate of learning disabilities, and three times the rate of
emotional and behavioral issues—including anxiety,
depression, and withdrawal. Homeless families can get stuck
in red tape, forced to contact multiple agencies for assistance
and left languishing on waiting lists for months.
Between 2000 and 2008, our Sound Families Initiative
helped build more than 1,450 transitional homes in King,
Pierce and Snohomish counties. However, it did not have the
systemic impact we sought.
Now, with our partners at Building Changes and in the three
counties, our goal is to cut family homelessness in half by
2020 with an approach that recognizes families’ innate
strengths, fosters collaboration, streamlines systems, and
uses resources more efficiently.
A family that found stable housing through the Washington Youth &
Families Fund, a public-private partnership founded in 2004.
To bring about systemic improvements, we use five
principles to guide our work:
 Prevention and Diversion, including services such as
short-term flexible assistance, domestic violence
services, landlord mediation, help with overdue rent and
utility bills, and emergency food, clothing, childcare, and
transportation assistance.
 Coordinated entry to simplify access to housing and
support services so that there is one place to go for
assistance, reducing waste and helping families get what
they need quickly.
 Rapid rehousing to place families in permanent housing
as soon as possible, reducing the length of stays in
emergency and transitional shelter.
 Tailored support services that are flexible, coordinated,
and personalized to each family’s specific needs.
 Economic opportunity that connects families to income,
education, and employment programs.
StrengtheningCommunities
Community-based organizations know their local strengths
and opportunities better than we do. To empower local
communities to identify and pursue lasting solutions, we
support philanthropic partners like community foundations
and United Ways. We also invest in organizations that
provide technical assistance to the entire nonprofit sector.
These partners use their local networks, knowledge, and
leadership to address the unique needs of their
communities—in many cases re-granting foundation funds
to smaller nonprofits and local projects.
The best ideas usually come from our partners—those who
work directly with children, students, and families—and we
regularly seek their input, guidance, and advice. We strive
to build their capacity to have more impact.
ABOUT THE FOUNDATION
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation aspires to help all people lead
healthy, productive lives.
We are dedicated to discovering and disseminating
innovative approaches to addressing extreme poverty and
poor health in developing countries and improving the U.S.
education system.
Because our financial resources, while significant,
represent a small fraction of what’s needed to address these
challenges, we work in partnership with governments, the
private sector, and other donors and organizations to
achieve the greatest possible impact.
LEARN MORE
Our U.S. Program:
gatesfoundation.org/united-states
Our Washington State Strategy:
gatesfoundation.org/washington