Fall 2024, Volume 5, Issue 3
DEEL Director Dr. Dwane Chappelle joins the Rainier Beach High School community for the first day of classes on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.
Alongside Seattle families, school and community partners, the Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) celebrated the September return to classes and start of the 2024-2025 school year for students from preschool to college.
Early Learning
Nearly 2,000 children are currently enrolled in the Seattle Preschool Program (SPP), with open seats for up to 500 more children ages three and four. As part of Seattle’s commitment to bring high-quality preschool to the city’s future leaders, Mayor Harrell added 17 new SPP classrooms this school year, with 318 seats added to serve nearly 2,500 children citywide. This school year, SPP is partnering with 27 organizations for a total of 99 preschool sites and 154 classrooms. Read more about fall 2024 Seattle Preschool Program highlights here.
K-12
DEEL celebrates the new academic year for students and families at our FEPP Levy-funded School Based Investment (SBI) partner schools. To prepare for the start of the school year, the SBI team hosted elementary and secondary principals and Levy coordinators across our 30 schools at Denny Middle School on August 22. This meeting provided school staff the opportunity to reflect within and across grade level teams on past year successes and challenges and do some intentional goal-setting and visioning on how to meet the needs of levy focused students in the new school year.
Photo of the 2024 SBI Kick Off at Denny Middle School courtesy of DEEL School-Based Investment team.
Our school leaders continue to remain responsive to ongoing student challenges from mental healthprovide staff the opportunity to co-create and share best practices that are both culturally responsive and enhance high quality learning environments. Additionally, these meetings provide DEEL staff an opportunity to learn how we can continue to support and offer technical assistance for our levy-funded schools, as they work to build and sustain an infrastructure for long-term student success.
Beyond in-school supports and practices, DEEL is also innovating to meet the need for youth mental health care by increasing access to telehealth services for all middle and high school students, and Seattle youth up to age 24. This fall, DEEL is partnering with the Human Services Department (HSD) to expand services provided by Joon and identifying additional telehealth providers through a Request for Proposal, with the full suite of telehealth services slated to launch by Spring 2025. Continue reading below to learn more about DEEL-supported mental health resources for Seattle youth, including details on accessible care through Joon and the RFP provider partnership model of care.
Follow our blog for upcoming stories on the ways DEEL investments are supporting healthy and enriching learning environments from preschool through K-12 in the 2024-25 school year: What's the DEEL? - Department of Education and Early Learning
Photo from Seattle Promise 2024 Summer Bridge courtesy of Seattle Colleges.
Promise
In the last week of August and first week of September, nearly 900 incoming Seattle Promise scholars attended Summer Bridge— a required on-campus new student orientation in preparation for fall quarter. Participants built skills and awareness by attending workshops on topics including Student Technology and Academic Resources and Strategies. Activities included a mock-classroom experience and student panel, as well as the opportunity to connect with peers and advisers at The Promise Fair featuring food, campus tours, and lots of resources.
More than 1,500 Seattle Promise students are enrolled for the Fall 2024 quarter, which began on Monday, September 23.
Seattle Promise applications are now open to the High School Class of 2025! Learn more and apply here.
Black, Indigenous and People of Color community staff, volunteers, board members, and Mental Health Practitioners with Therapy Fund Foundation, 2024 Prenatal-to-Three Community Grant recipient. Photo courtesy of Therapy Fund Foundation.
Prenatal-to-Three Community Grant Awardees
In July, the DEEL Early Learning Division proudly announced the five community partner organizations awarded through the 2024 Prenatal-to-Three (PN3) Community Grant. Therapy Fund Foundation, Native Family Learning Lodge, Villa Comunitaria, Unified Outreach: Concepts Offering Lives of Respectability Everyone Deserves, and Rainier Valley Birth & Health Center have been selected for funds intended to improve kindergarten readiness by reducing race-based, gender-based, and other socioeconomic health disparities for young children and their families during the birth-to-three period. Each partner has been selected to receive $298,000 over two years, from 2024 to 2026, for a total of $1.49 million in funds distributed. To learn more, visit our blog here.
Open Now: Telehealth for Students & Youth Request for Proposal (RFP)
Through Friday, October 18, 2024, eligible mental health service providers can apply to the Telehealth for Students & Youth Request for Proposal (RFP) supporting the mental well-being of Seattle’s diverse student population. The RFP is part of a multi-faceted City-wide youth mental health investment strategy that delivers supports for youth across the mental health continuum, reaches youth in ways that are culturally responsive, localized to their communities, evidence-based, and informed by youth and family needs. Previously published guidelines established that organizations interested in participating in future DEEL RFP processes related to student telehealth services MUST have completed that RFI process to be eligible. To learn more about forthcoming telehealth services for Seattle students and youth to be funded through the RFP, read here.
Coming Soon: Opportunity to Join the Seattle Preschool Program for 2025-2026
The Department of Education and Early Learning will be announcing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the Seattle Preschool Programs. Applications will be accepted from center-based early learning providers seeking to join the Seattle Preschool Program or expand existing SPP classrooms at their site. More information about this RFQ will be shared on DEEL’s Funding Opportunities webpage.
Visit our website for more information about DEEL's funding processes, including timelines for notification of selected applications and awards.
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