About Us
Our Mission
Seattle Education Access provides higher education advocacy and opportunity to people struggling to overcome poverty and adversity.
Our Goals
To connect non-traditional students with the information and financial resources to help them achieve their dreams of a college education.
To provide financial support that helps low-income youth access higher education and meet their housing and basic survival needs while in school.
To provide the personal attention, mentoring, technical assistance, and moral support that marginalized youth need to navigate the complex systems of higher education and financial aid.
To empower young people living in poverty to develop their own voices and succeed in the higher academic arena.
Our Values
We believe:
In the inherent worth and dignity of each human being.
That education is a life-long process of self-discovery and world discovery.
That education is its own reward and enriches life.
That every person deserves a good education.
That every person is responsible for his or her own life.
That every person has unique gifts and that when those gifts are nourished and given a chance to flourish, both the individual and the community benefits.
That by helping others, and by accepting help from others, we add meaning and beauty to life.
We welcome:
Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community members, and celebrate their right to self-determination.
People from all ethnic, cultural and national backgrounds.
People from all religious faiths and philosophical worldviews who share our values and promote our mission.
We are committed to using our financial resources in the most efficient and responsible way possible to further our mission.
We measure the success of our organization by the success and well-being of our students.
Our Programs
College Success Program
We help youth and young adults transition successfully to community colleges by combining financial support with social support. We provide non-traditional scholarships, tutoring, career counseling, computers, academic advising, books, case management and advocacy for our target population.
Youth Outreach
SEA partners with other local nonprofits that provide basic services to homeless youth, in order to increase the range of educational opportunities that they are able to provide their clients. Past Youth Outreach projects include refurbishing a computer lab at a local group home, cooking for Teen Feed, providing books for shelters and school programs that serve homeless youth, providing book seminars and art lessons for homeless youth at partner nonprofits.
Education Advocacy Training
Our staff provides free consultation to other grassroots organizations, teaching them how to adapt our College Success Program to their own unique constituencies. We also offer training workshops and consultation to service providers at other nonprofits that serve low income and marginalized people, teaching them how to provide higher education advocacy for their clients. Currently, SEA staff is providing pro bono consultation to the Post Prison Education Program, an emerging nonprofit that helps people who have recently been released from Washington State prisons transition successfully to community colleges.
