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Winter 2024, Volume 5, Issue 4
The City of Seattle shows up for our young people, so DEEL is partnering with Talkspace to offer free online therapy and mental health support to any Seattle resident ages 13-24. Youth can connect with a WA-licensed therapist for unlimited messaging therapy + one live virtual session per month, and download the Talkspace Go app for personalized courses that strengthen mental fitness. Read the DEEL blog to learn more about this initiative.
Visit talkspace.com/Seattle to learn more. Sign up for the Talkspace Go app with the organization keyword: seattle.
Holistic Resources and Supports for Student Mental Wellness
Alongside virtual mental health care with Talkspace and the soon to be announced telehealth providers, current DEEL investments are responding to the need expressed by students and families for increased access to school-based mental health supports. In the 2024-25 school year, the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise (FEPP) Levy will continue to fund 29 school based health centers (SBHCs), including 8 elementary, 7 middle, and 14 high schools, in partnership with Public Health—Seattle King County and community-based providers. All SBHCs offer mental health practitioners onsite.
School-Based Health Center (SBHC) Sites
Elementary Schools
- Bailey Gatzert, Beacon Hill International, Dearborn Park, Highland Park, Lowell, Rising Star, Roxhill, West Seattle
Middle Schools
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Aki Kurose, Denny International, Madison, Meany, Mercer, Robert Eagle Staff, Washington
High Schools
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Ballard, Chief Sealth, Cleveland, Franklin, Garfield, Ingraham, Interagency Academy, Lincoln, Nathan Hale, Nova, Rainer Beach, Roosevelt, Seattle World School, West Seattle
In addition to mental health care accessible to students through the SBHCs, several DEEL investments promote social emotional learning and positive youth development. DEEL supports strategies that strengthen protective factors for participating youth while mitigating risk factors by enhancing school climate and community-building interventions inclusive of restorative practices.
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 Members of the DEEL FEPP Levy Oversight Committee gather for the last meeting of the year at ARTS at King Street Station on December 18, 2024. Back row, L-to-R: Jemini Davis, Dr. Dwane Chappelle, Dr. Chris Alejano. Front row, L-to-R: Dr. Becca Lawrence, Leilani DeLaCruz, Mei-Li Thomas, Kateri Joe (LOC), Dr. Donald Felder (LOC).
DEEL staff and members of the DEEL FEPP Levy Oversight Committee (LOC) gathered to celebrate their work advising and monitoring the impact of the FEPP Levy throughout 2024. LOC participants shared perspectives on highlights from the past year. The event also thanked and recognized Kateri Joe, whose term is concluding. Kateri is the Director of Outreach and Engagement at Treehouse (pictured second from right), and has worked with youth for over a decade, developing relationships with local tribal nations and tribal communities across Washington state and creating programing to support educational opportunities for native youth in foster care. DEEL and the LOC express deep gratitude to Kateri for her service, in particular the ways she has elevated the educational needs and experiences of local Native youth.
 DEEL Releases 2022-2023 School Year Report
This year’s report documents the fourth year of the FEPP Levy’s implementation and showcases DEEL’s commitment to providing high-quality services across the prenatal-to-postsecondary continuum with our nearly 400 partners.
Read the report featuring partner stories, available online.
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Center for Linguistics and Cultural Democracy Fall Dual Language Certification
On October 28, 4 DEEL Coaches received their Dual Language certification from the Center for Linguistics and Cultural Democracy. This 6-module intensive training was focused on helping teachers create a learning environment and implement curriculum that supports the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of children, and their families served in the SPP programs. This group also supported in the planning for all other coaches to become Dual Language certified and ensuring dual language kits were supplied to all classrooms.
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Academy for Rising Educators (ARE) Receives 2024 National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) Rose Duhon-Sells Multicultural Program Award
On November 16, NAME hosted their 33rd Annual International Conference in Anaheim, CA where they presented the 2024 Rose-Duhon-Sells Multicultural Program Award to ARE. ARE is a FEPP Levy funded, culturally specific and responsive investment strategy that aims to increase the number of linguistically, racially, and culturally diverse educators in Seattle Public Schools. DEEL has been fortunate to partner with Seattle College and Seattle Public Schools to make ARE an award-winning program.
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Quarterly Professional Development Providers Meeting
DEEL’s K-12 team held their quarterly Professional Development (PD) Providers meeting on October 28 at MLK Jr. Elementary School. PD providers facilitate school capacity building trainings centered on restorative practices, instructional leadership, equitable instruction, and supporting multilingual learning, for 30 levy schools. Quarterly PD meetings re-center shared goals, while creating space to discuss school updates and successes, and name areas of alignment and collaboration.
Highlights from the fall meeting include:
- Major wins from WA-BLOC related to increased student training on facilitating peacekeeping circles;
- The Center for Educational Leadership’s successful kickoff on October 3, focused on guiding schools toward instructional vision that promotes teacher investment and participation;
- Stakeholder engagement highlighting the critical need for continuing to invest in adult learning and capacity building;
- Participant perspectives on the importance of naming the thread between adult learning and student outcomes, illuminating the impact of continued investment in shifting adult practices to create positive changes pertaining to student safety, peer and adult relationships, and school culture.
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UW Center for Educational Leadership Professional Development Series
On November 7, ten FEPP-funded Seattle Public Schools leaders and their instructional teams gathered at Cleveland High School for a PD training led by UW Center for Educational Leadership. Informed by "Liberating Structures," the focus was on what student learning looks and sounds like in the classroom. Cross-school elementary, middle and high school teams worked collaboratively to assess the degree to which the vison for student learning has been clearly articulated to staff in their school community, determine how staff value the vision of student learning, and whether staff leverage this vision in the classroom. The learning for this PD promoted:
1) Tapping into the knowledge and imagination that is available but not always known;
2) Having open, generative conversations as a staff team;
3) Creating collective efficacy around solutions; and
4) Creating ownership of participants' ideas which will lead to implementation and student success in the classroom.
School leaders and their teams closed the day feeling energized and ready for their assignment: create a Vison for Student Learning with their school staff.
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Hilltop Children's Center: Meeting the unique requirements of a child's development
 Photo caption: Preschoolers at Hilltop’s Queen Anne location participate in a music activity.
Hilltop Children’s Center has been a beacon of inspiring early childhood education for over 50 years through its innovative curriculum. Hilltop offers the Seattle Preschool Program at their Queen Anne and Fremont locations. Hilltop has successfully blended SPP’s Teaching Strategies GOLD® student assessment tool with their own classroom observations to ensure preschoolers are ready to enter kindergarten. Read more about their approach to learning on our blog.
Hearing, Speech, and Deaf Center: Rosen Family Preschool Dual Language Initiative
 Photo caption: Seattle Preschool Program students at Rosen Family Preschool enjoy learning and playing together.
Located in Seattle’s Central District, the Hearing, Speech, and Deaf Center (HSDC) Rosen Family Preschool offers two Seattle Preschool Program classrooms for three- and four-year-olds, serving deaf, hearing, and hard-of-hearing children and families. HSDC is part of the new SPP classroom expansion for the 2024-2025 school year. Read HSDC’s story on how DEEL investments have made a difference in serving children and empowering early learning educators.
Coming Soon: DEEL and BrightSpark to Provide Child Care Staff Retention Payments in early 2025
DEEL is proud to announce it will partner with BrightSpark Early Learning Services to distribute up to $2.8 million in one-time retention payments for Seattle child care workers, with applications opening in February 2025. For ongoing updates bookmark 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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Attention Class of 2025: Seattle Promise Applications are open now through February 14!
 Seattle Promise is a college tuition and success program launched by Seattle Colleges, Seattle Public Schools, and the City of Seattle following passage of the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise (FEPP) Levy in 2018.
Seattle Promise has three core components:
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Free tuition at any of the Seattle Colleges: North Seattle College, Seattle Central College or South Seattle College for up to two years, 90 college credits or a student's first degree, whichever comes first.
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Equity scholarships: flexible funding for books, transportation, housing, etc. for students with financial need.
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Student support and advising beginning in the junior year of high school and lasting through completion of a degree, certificate, credential or transfer to a four-year institution.
All graduating seniors attending Seattle public high schools are eligible for the Seattle Promise program regardless of grade point average (GPA), income, ability, or country of birth.
Start your path to college by applying for your Seattle Promise scholarship by Friday, February 14, 2025.
The National College Resource Foundation hosts the Seattle Black College Expo on Saturday January 18, 2025 at Rainier Beach High School from 10am to 3pm. Juniors and Seniors planning to attend the Expo also have the opportunity to win scholarship money by writing and submitting an essay by January 6, 2025 at 11pm.
The Expo features over 50 colleges offering on-the-spot college admissions, so bring copies of your transcript. All application fees will be waived if you apply with them that day. The Expo also features surprise celebrity guests, prizes, and free food. Register now to attend!
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DEEL is looking for a Child Care Program Manager who will manage the ongoing program implementation of the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) and the department’s other childcare investments and initiatives, as well as directly supervise and evaluate the performance of four Early Education Specialists and one Senior Early Education Specialist.
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