Secret Harbor School Receives $75,000 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grant

ANACORTES, Wash. -- Secret Harbor School has received a $75,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for technology that will improve the educational resources available to at-risk youth served by its Cypress Island programs. The grant will be used to fund construction of a microwave-based communication bridge that will provide the school with Internet access and distance learning capabilities.

This communication bridge is part of Secret Harbor's technology plan and is one of the first steps in the agency's recently approved long-range plan for its Cypress Island campus. The Secret Harbor board of directors has committed to the development of new programs to serve youth in small, specialized program settings that can focus more intensively on each child's unique needs.

Executive Director Brian Carroll notes, "By dividing our Cypress Island youth population into smaller groups with similar needs, more individual attention can be provided to students as they work toward their return to community settings." The communications technology that is being made possible through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will greatly enhance the school's ability to design individualized learning experiences to complement its new program model.

Also planned for 2001-2002 are additional computers for each classroom and expansion of the Macdonald Cottage chemical dependency program. A new cottage program is being designed to serve boys who have stabilized in current programming and are ready to work on specific issues that are essential to their future independence and productivity.

Secret Harbor School has been serving adolescent boys with severe emotional, behavioral, and social challenges since 1949. Many of its clients also have learning disabilities or chemical dependency issues that are successfully treated through its integrated residential treatment and education program. Secret Harbor's Foster Care Resources division, established in 1998, specializes in Treatment Foster Care for boys and girls to age 18 who have similar emotional, behavioral, or developmental challenges.

"Secret Harbor appreciates the commitment of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improving the lives of our community's children," added Carroll.