Elevate (United Way) credits bilingual outreach, school-based teams and run charts for regional FAFSA gains

Amy Lee, director of post-secondary access at Elevate (the United Way of the Blue Mountains initiative), and Jenny Foster, a lead college-and-career readiness advisor, told the advisory board their regional, partnership-driven model uses school-based "post-secondary ecosystem" teams and run charts to track interventions and outcomes.

"We have around 55 percent of our students pursue some type of post-secondary education immediately after they graduate," Amy Lee said as she introduced Elevate’s goals; a region presenter added, "69 percent of our students have completed financial aid," reporting a local completion rate higher than past years. Elevate said it has recorded more than 2,600 financial-aid interactions this cycle and credited bilingual Family Academies, one-on-one outreach, and designated college-and-career staff for those gains.

Elevate described concrete tactics: multi-language family academies run in English and Spanish at the same time, targeted one-on-one parent outreach to help complete applications, weekly run charts that let school teams visualize short-term impacts (for example, sudden peaks when staff pushed into senior English classes), and partnership with local higher-education financial aid outreach specialists. Elevate staff said they convene cross-sector teams — administrators, counselors, CBO partners, teachers — to set monthly goals and replicate effective interventions across schools.

Presenters acknowledged that Elevate benefits from strong grant funding and staffing: Jenny Foster said multiple CC RAs and outreach staff are on the ground, and Amy Lee emphasized that sustained, well-funded human capital is essential. In response to questions from Senator Hanson, presenters clarified that the college-and-career readiness advisors (CCRA) complement, rather than replace, HB 1835-funded workers and that many roles are year-round, based in school spaces where staff can meet students in off periods or by appointment.

Elevate offered to follow up with districts seeking implementation details and said run-chart tools and bilingual family engagement are priorities to replicate in other regions.