With the goal of connecting disengaged youth, this project is meant to provide several in-depth college and career workshops to youth from high school to age 24.

Rainier Vista and New Holly neighborhoods are mostly low-income housing, and home to many immigrant and refugee families. In a partnership between Seattle Housing Authority Washington Service Corps member Mary Ruffin and Horn of Africa Services Americorps VISTA member Jenn Charoni, we will work together to provide in-depth college preparation workshops and college tours to youth during students' early dismissal days. Youth have expressed an interest in support with college and career guidance and applications- but we've lacked funds to institute resource-rich programming. With our combined outreach efforts, we're able to connect more youth with college and career resources than we are alone.

Mary's work specifically targets disengaged youth between the ages of 16 and 24, and she's been making connections in both neighborhoods. Jenn works with East African immigrant and refugee youth in Rainier Vista and has relationships with these youth from the Horn of Africa Services after school tutoring program.

We are specifically planning to provide 1-2 campus visits to the University of Washington and/or Seattle University where youth will go on a private tour. We will also have a college and career night where professionals and college students will come to our communities and talk about their experiences in a particular school or field. We will provide a workshop on funding, FAFSA and scholarship applications, and/or a general application workshop day. We will continue to consult youth on their needs and interests and provide them with interactive workshops concerning topics they select.

We'd love to be able to bring these services to our target low income immigrant and refugee youth, and have the connections to do so. We just need a small budget to help make the workshops happen.