For the past three years Bank of America has sponsored the Bank of America Mentoring Initiative. The initiative is designed to support high-quality mentoring programs that are serving youth living in low to moderate income households with emphasis in reaching small and rural communities. Fifty eight grants totaling more than $300,000 have been made since 2006 through a competitive grant process administered by Washington State Mentors. For a list of 2009 Bank of America Mentoring Initiative grant recipients and photos from the statewide grant celebrations click here.

Propelling WSM forward is a gift of $4.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for our Mentoring At-Risk Youth (MaRY) project. The center piece of this project is a set of seven grants to mentoring providers that will serve up to 3,000 youth over the course of five years. For a complete list of MaRY grantees click here.

The College Success Foundation (CSF) was established in the spring of 2000 by Bob Craves and Ann Ramsay-Jenkins. In a climate where one-third of the state's 900,000 K-12 students are on free or reduced lunches, and where 17% of public high school students do not graduate, the founders wished to encourage scholarship philanthropy, and to significantly change the opportunity structure for disadvantaged students and their families.  Their mission is to provide college scholarships and mentoring to low-income, high-potential students.  Washington State Mentors (WSM) was initiated in 1999 by the Department of Social and Health Services. In 2004, WSM expanded with the support of Costco Wholesale and the College Success Foundation.

 

Washington State Mentors is a public/private partnership between Washington State's Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and private funders, the largest of which is Costco. Costco provides annual operations support, sponsors WSM fundraisers and WSM's President & COO, Jim Marsh is an executive on loan from Costco.

Washington State Mentors is a public/private partnership between Washington State's Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and private funders including Costco. DSHS provides the majority of WSM's operational funding. Our partnership with DSHS and Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen allows WSM to effectively advocate for mentoring among the state agencies and legislators. Tom Pennella, Deputy Director of Government Relations for WSM is an executive on loan from DSHS.