To ensure that children with developmental delays/disabilities reach their highest potential, United Way of King County supports programs throughout the county that address their needs. We know that a critical piece of success for these children is direct support and engagement from their parents and families. When parents learn their child has delays, they may feel scared, helpless and powerless. But when they are connected to services and information that support and nurture their child’s development, parents feel empowered and supported as a result.
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It has just started to feel like summer here in King County, and yet the school season is just around the corner! While many students are getting all the required items they need for school as well as the “cool” new school clothes, others have a bigger issue to worry about…where they are going to sleep at night.

SchoolHouse Washington (a website that provides information and support for homeless students) recently came out with some findings breaking down homelessness for children and teens in…

On July 14, 2012, the volunteers headed to Renton’s Sunset Terrace Community Building—a partner site for United Way of King County‘s summer meal program. There, they learned about the inner workings of the Summer Food Service Program, a federal program that helps end hunger by feeding kids all summer long, when free or reduced-price meals at school are unavailable.

Boeing volunteers then grabbed bags full of promotional door hangers and hit the streets to get the word out about easy access to summer meal program sites.…

“Over 96,000 King County children utilize free or reduced lunch in school, an 8.5% increase since 2006. However in 2011 only 9.6% of these children who are eligible for free lunch accessed free summer meals.”

This was part of the training for the outreach events that the United Way of King County Summer Meals volunteers took part in. Volunteers attended a short training on how the Summer Food Service Program works, why we needed to do outreach, and what they were going to be doing…

Last year the Mayor launched the Youth and Families Initiative and through that work met with over 3,000 community members to learn about the help that local children needed to be successful in school and during their out of school time.  Through the Youth and Families Initiative, Engage Seattle Initiative and the Cities of Service Initiative, the Mayor called for community members to volunteer as reading tutors, mentors, and after school volunteers.  Recent data has shown that this is making a difference in the lives…

Created for children 3-5 years old and their parents or caregivers, Small Frye brings children’s stories and contemporary favorites to life in the Frye Art Museum galleries.

Through tales and songs, Small Frye introduces children to a wide variety of words and sounds, preparing them for reading and writing. Movement and play are incorporated into story time, fostering creative thinking and problem solving in an interdisciplinary environment.

Stories of transformation and renewal are the themes for May and June with librarians from The Seattle Public…

On May 25, 2011, the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a competitive $500 million dollar state-level grant to the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge. The Race to the Top challenge focuses on the improvement of early learning and development programs for young disadvantaged children. “For kids, high quality early learning programs mean they will enter school better prepared with a greater chance of finishing high school and college,” said Vice President Joe Biden,…

Greetings from the Volunteer Reader Program!  Last Thursday evening, we had another wonderful Volunteer Reader Program Training and we would like to give a special thank you to Maren Ostergard with the King County Library System for providing the training and for another great job!  Volunteer Readers learned about the dialogic reading method, 6 essential Early Literacy skills (Print Motivation, Print Awareness, Vocabulary, Narrative Skills, Letter Knowledge and Phonological Awareness), were introduced to a variety of new books, were able to ask questions of current…

United Way of King County is funding several wonderful programs designed to support young children and their families in helping those children arrive at kindergarten ready for school.  Two such programs are delivered by New Futures, an agency that has been serving refugees, immigrants, people of color, and low-income families for over 17 years.  New Futures has a first-hand understanding of how people in these communities are disproportionately impacted by not having the necessary educational foundation. Many of the parents served by New Futures have…

United Way of King County is committed to relieving childhood hunger in our community. From our work in early learning, we know all too well that one of the biggest obstacles in making sure that kids are ready to learn is ensuring they have healthy, nutritious meals during the day. That’s why we’re paying close attention to what’s happening in Congress.

On July 15, the House Education and Labor Committee approved their version of Child Nutrition Reauthorization, which calls for approximately $8 billion…