Skagit Valley College, College Success Foundation partner to serve foster, homeless youths

Jul. 13—MOUNT VERNON — For older foster children, instability in housing and schooling can make it difficult to know what path to follow, particularly when it comes to higher education.

Foster kids face many barriers, said Keith Stier-Van Essen, College Success Foundation program director for the Northwest Coastal Region.

"They experience so much transition, it can be hard to settle down and navigate an education space," he said.

In partnership with Skagit Valley College, the regional arm of the College Success Foundation aims to lower some of those barriers for local students who have been through the foster care system or experienced homelessness.

"We believe every student deserves that shot," Stier-Van Essen said.

The Passport to College program, started at Skagit Valley College in the past year, pairs foster and homeless youths with a person familiar with the struggles they may face, giving them a person to turn to for anything they need — be it support, advice, or help navigating higher education.

A sense of belonging can be difficult for foster youths to come by, Stier-Van Essen said.

"Given the transient nature of their lives and discord with family or close personal relationships through childhood, settling into new places, developing community, building self-confidence, and understanding their identity can be exhausting and difficult to navigate," he said.

Kati Ortiz's job as a program navigator is to be a consistent support source for such students.

She helps them focus on housing, cultural identity, physical and mental health, life skills, social and community connections, and finances and job skills.

"My thing is meeting students where they are," Ortiz said.

Over time in the foster system, youths often have more than one case manager. Ortiz intends to be their go-to person for all issues.

"That they have one person to go to is a strength of the Passport program," she said.

For T'Kayah Edwards, 22, being in the foster system meant she went to about a dozen schools throughout the state before she finally ended up at La Conner High School. Each school taught different things at different paces, which made it difficult to keep up.

She knew she wanted to continue her education beyond high school, especially so she could be a role model to her younger siblings. But as she tried to navigate the Skagit Valley College system, she struggled with understanding how the system worked and had to bounce between different people and different offices, she said.

After a difficult quarter and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she found Ortiz.

"Once I started realizing she wanted to help, I used her services much more," Edwards said.

Her confidence has grown, and she now wants to push herself to do new things — even further her education at Western Washington University.

The College Success Foundation has had the Passport program in other places and similar programs in high schools, including Mount Vernon High School, since 2008, Ortiz said.

It currently serves 15 to 20 Skagit Valley College students, she said.

"Both organizations share the same vision, and it's consistent with the college's vision of providing equity and access and quality achievement for all," Skagit Valley College President Tom Keegan said. "When we say that we are committed to equity, and equity in access, that implies we open our arms and our hearts to all. When there's an opportunity to serve those that have been traditionally left out of higher education, it's something that's no question we're going to do that."

For Keegan, signing onto the partnership was an easy choice.

"When someone is concerned about where they're going to sleep, how they're going to get their next meal and all of the issues related to homelessness, education tends to not be the first thing on one's mind," he said. "This partnership exists to not just raise the level of consciousness about higher education, but to have (these students) be treated in a respectful way and see themselves as college students. And, along the way, knock down the barriers that are put in front of each person."

— Reporter Kera Wanielista: 360-416-2141, kwanielista@skagitpublishing.com, Twitter: @Kera_SVH, facebook.com/KeraReports