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.
• Thousands of young children who are not prepared for kindergarten start school 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 and to improve Washington state’s early learning system to help ensure that every child has the opportunity–starting at 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 families and strengthening our partners in both the state of Washington and the greater Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area.

To address challenges our region’s families face, we support 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

Our Approach: Pacific Northwest Community Grants

We take 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 the greater Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area.

To improve the lives 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 our Community Grants investments support three core objectives:

• Connecting families to government support.

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

• Enhancing academic success through community and school collaboration.