Poverty makes staying in school tough.

At community college—where more than half of the students live below the poverty line—staying in school can be especially challenging.

It is widely acknowledged that education is the best way to break the cycle of poverty. Yet living in poverty makes staying in college tough. Further, because of systemic racism throughout the education system, education opportunities for people of color are limited. Nearly half of our area community college students are people of color. 

Community colleges are an affordable way for people to get a higher education, yet fewer than half of community college students earn a credential.

Further, the COVID-19 crisis demonstrated the importance of a college education. So far during the pandemic, the unemployment rate for those with a high school diploma has been roughly twice that of those with a bachelors degree at 9% and 4.8% respectively.

Bridge to Finish helps students get the services they need to stay in school and complete their education.

How It Works

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There are 10 “Benefits Hubs” locations on community and technical college campuses throughout King County. Benefits Hubs are staffed by AmeriCorps members, who can also provide mental health and legal services resources. Each location offers services that include one-time emergency grants, housing support, tax help, food pantries and financial coaching to empower students to stay in school and complete their education.

Bridge to Finish is currently on 10 campuses throughout King County:

Learn more about the Blake Nordstrom Scholarship for students receiving Bridge to Finish support.

Success to Date

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6,000

students received support in the 2020-2021 school year to allow them to continue their education

27,037

connections to resources and support were provided (+10,000 since the previous year)

+12%

increase in education persistence rate for students of color (+9% overall)

76%

of those supported were students of color

42%

of students supported were parents

Racial\u0020breakdown\u0020of\u0020students\u0020served

Black/African American/Other African	Asian/Asian-American	White/Caucasian	Hispanic/Latino	American Indian/Alaskan Native	Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander	Multi-Racial/Other
20\u0025	21\u0025	21\u0025	14\u0025	0.20\u0025	0.80\u0025	23\u0025

Goals

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• Increase completion rates. We’re focusing on serving first generation students, students of color and working parents.
• Influence public policy. With so many students struggling with hunger and homelessness, we are advocating for all community college students to have the financial resources they need to persist and complete. This includes access to food, housing and emergency grants.
• Improve measurement. We’re working with the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and have added a new measure to track completion rates of participants.

Bridge to Finish Honor Roll

With support from these generous donors, we are supporting college students so they can focus on finishing their education.