This past summer, PSCCN's Dinda Davis participated in CCER's Youth Storytelling Project as a mentor. Dinda had the privilege of working with Sophia Vazquez; a third-year student at the University of Washington, majoring in education, communities, and organizations. She is committed to understanding and addressing systemic barriers impacting youth and communities, within education and beyond.

We are excited to announce Mercy Daramola has been selected as PSESD's Director of Postsecondary as of September 2021.

The Puget Sound College & Career Network at PSESD was selected as the King County Promise System Supporting Organization. King County Promise is a bold, public-private partnership to increase equity in college access and success for historically underserved students in King County. The goals of King County Promise and the role of the System Supporting Organization closely align to PSESD’s End: Success for Each Child and Eliminate the Opportunity Gap by Leading with Racial Equity.

PSCCN is excited to announce our 2021 Postsecondary Transition Demonstration Project. From February - November 2021, PSCCN will facilitate two separate partnerships. Each partnership comprised of 1 district partner and 1-2 community and technical college partners. The PSCCN Demonstration Project will be focused on significantly improving equity in college access and completion student outcomes for the class of 2021. Over this 10 month period PSCCN will work closely with each partnership, guiding them through a continuous improvement framework, while leveraging internal strategies and resources, and build on mutually beneficial data that supports postsecondary access and success.

WSOS supports students with flexible financial aid and student support services such as mentorship, professional development and networking. WSOS helps students achieve success from their first day on campus to the launch of their professional careers in Washington state.

December is a good month for students to finalize their financial aid application. To support your work with students, here are a few reminders for the senior class:

Financial Aid: Students will soon start receiving acceptance letters. Help your students explore financial aid and scholarships packages at the colleges they have applied. This will give them a good grasp of how much they can save because aid packages differ from one school to the next. 

Over summer 2020, PSCCN partnered with districts and colleges across the region to work in partnership to reduce barriers for incoming college students, leverage expertise and support of K-12, CBOs, and college partners, while acknowledging the known and potential impacts of COVID-19 on students and communities of color. This is a summary of what was learned that can be applied right away.