Pacific Northwest Community Grants

Washington state is home to a growing number of families who struggle to get by.

• At least one in four children lives in an economically at-risk family with a parent who lacks full-time, year-round work.
• Too many hard working families are struggling with the impact of the global economic crisis and are on the brink of losing their homes.
• Thousands of young children who lack school readiness start behind their peers socially, emotionally, and cognitively, and often remain behind as adults.
• Children with one or more of these factors in their lives are less likely to get the support they need to succeed in school and life.

To combat these problems, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has specific strategies to reduce family homelessness in the Puget Sound region by 50 percent within the next decade and to improve Washington state’s system of early learning to help ensure that every child has the opportunity–from birth–to be successful.

At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, our Community Grants program in the Pacific Northwest builds upon our long-held commitment to communities throughout our region. We want to develop greater insight into the role we can play in stabilizing and strengthening our partners in both the state of Washington and the greater Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area.

To address these challenges, we offer support to many dedicated and innovative community organizations in the Pacific Northwest.

We focus on nonprofit organizations and tribes that can best identify and serve the needs of low-income children and families. We help these organizations serve more people, build organizational strength, and improve their programs.

Our goal is to promote healthy communities by helping struggling youth and families grow stronger.

Next: Our Approach

For the past eight years, we have taken a simple approach to grantmaking through our Pacific Northwest initiative’s Community Grants program: We listen, learn, and respond to the local needs of communities in Washington state and in Portland, Oregon. Communities across the Pacific Northwest are increasingly feeling the impact of the ongoing global economic crisis and now, more than ever before, we need to sharpen our focus and address their most pressing needs.

To provide immediate relief for the most pressing needs of vulnerable children and families–as well as the nonprofits, tribes, and government agencies that serve them–our Pacific Northwest Community Grants program works to impact the lives of people with few resources and great needs. The majority of the foundation’s Community Grants investments in the Pacific Northwest support three core objectives:

• Increasing access to existing public benefits and supports.

  Many low-income families are already eligible for a variety of government assistance, such as food stamps and the earned income tax credit. We will support the efforts of community-based organizations and government agencies to reach out to eligible families and increase utilization rates. We believe this preventative approach will help the largest number of at-risk families in the near term.

• Supporting evidence-based and promising approaches to preventing and reducing violence in our communities.

  Violence can take many different forms and is driven by many factors, some of which may be exacerbated by the economic hard times that create greater stress on families and communities. In addition, financial stress leaves fewer options for individuals seeking to flee violence. Children and families experiencing violence are likely to suffer long-term consequences that affect their ability to learn, to relate in healthy ways to other people, to hold a job, and to participate in community life in healthy and productive ways.

• Strengthening communities and building strong families.

  The foundation of a healthy, successful life–regardless of income–is an extended social network comprised of family, friends, and community. These support mechanisms are lifelines that are particularly important during hard times. To better understand our role as part of a collective effort, we will work with partners focused on the continued strengthening of communities throughout the Pacific Northwest.