King County Promise (KCP) is a public-private partnership comprised of King County K-12 districts, Community Based Organizations (CBOs), and Community and Technical Colleges (CTCs) to develop a comprehensive and racially just student support model for historically underserved young people to obtain postsecondary credentials. Working collaboratively, KCP stakeholders co-design and deliver targeted supports to KCP students that build off of, and align with, regional postsecondary best practices. Since 2017, the Puget Sound College & Career Network (PSCCN) has co-developed KCP with hundreds of King County students, parents, educators, and systems leaders by utilizing learnings from both national (College Promise) and local (South Seattle College 13th Year Scholarship) promise models.
Students Served
KCP is designed to provide postsecondary advising support to King County youth, ages 16-26, who have historically been underserved by K-12 and postsecondary institutions including:
- Youth of Color
- Youth with disabilities
- Youth who are LGBTQ+
- Youth who are or have been homeless
- Youth at risk of being involved or involved in the juvenile justice system
- Youth from families at or below 200% of federal poverty
- Youth currently in or have been in the foster care or child welfare system
- Youth who are Undocumented and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students
Goals & Strategies
Timeline and Funding
King County Council awarded KCP with an investment of $112.4 million, over 2021-2038, from the Puget Sound Taxpayer Accountability Account (PSTAA). In addition, a scaled-match fundraising requirement for PSCCN and partners will support the sustainability of the program. The first phase of KCP programming launched in fall 2022 with Highline Promise and Promise to Community. PSCCN will collaborate with stakeholders to ensure KCP is a sustainable regional model through:
- Phased implementation to ensure KCP investments will support all King County CTC and K-12 districts at full scale. Initial KCP partnerships and regional programming will test KCP strategies and inform future program structure and growth.
- Partnership fundraising and financial commitments are geared to align the PSTAA public investment as leverage for existing public dollars and attract other regional, local, private, and government funding to sustain KCP strategies and outcomes.
Click play below for the audio version of the article.
King County Promise Partners