Backpack Program Partners

From 2017 to 2018 our backpack program grew 215%. We couldn’t have achieved such significant growth without the support of our wonderful school partners. Our ability to effect meaningful change in the community is stronger when we combine our energy & resources with partners that share our values & goals. Two school partners that we have had the privilege of working & collaborating with are the Vietnamese Friendship Association & WA-BLOC.

We began partnering with the Vietnamese Friendship Association (VFA) in 2018 to serve refugee & immigrant students & families at the Seattle World School (SWS). 98% of students at the SWS are eligible for free & reduced lunch & 38.4% are reported homeless or at risk. VFA runs a program called ProjectRISE that helps provide students with after-school support such as healthy snacks & weekend food bags (provided by our backpack program), help with homework, job readiness training, & music programming. Rainier Beach High School (RBHS) was one of the first schools we partnered with during the development of our backpack program, & through this partnership, we were able to grow our relationship with WA-BLOC (Building Leaders Of Change) which is housed within the high school.

WA-BLOC’s mission is to empower the youth of color through academic, creative and place based leadership—they build this mission & vision through year-round programming that re-engages students in school, builds intergenerational place-based leaders of change, dismantles systemic racism, & disrupts the school to prison pipeline for black and brown youth in South Seattle. As we started providing weekend food bags at the RBHS, we received feedback from students & staff that there was a large need for healthy snacks before & after school. In response, we started providing snacks, distributed to students before & after school through WA-BLOC. We also provide weekend food bags to students at WA-BLOC’s summer school program that focuses on social justice curriculum, intergenerational leadership development, community engagement, & nutrition & health. Last year we sponsored a BLOC party event at the high school where students attend various workshops on an array of social justice issues. Food security & social justice are intricately intertwined, & our backpack program wouldn’t be complete without these partners dedicated to youth empowerment in the Rainier Valley!

Contributed by Olivia Reed, Youth & Community Organizer
olivia@rvfb.org