91探花

November 23, 2020

A new name and new endowment for a longstanding program working toward educational equity

This fall, the Pipeline Project completed their thoughtful work updating their program name. They are pleased to announce their new name: . This name seeks to more accurately reflect the program鈥檚 mission and honor their community collaborations. In addition, the program received an . The Endowment will allow Riverways to continue building their year-long program with Neah Bay and other rural and tribal communities, support the assessment of their work and create new year-long programs for other schools across the state.

Riverways Education Partnerships places equity and reciprocal relationships at the center of their work. Since 1997, 91探花undergraduates have been mentoring, tutoring and supporting K-12 students across the state. Riverways has built long term relationships with rural and tribal communities, as well as Seattle schools. Through this work, 91探花undergrads engage with students from diverse backgrounds, gain leadership skills, critically reflect on issues of equity in education and learn to build relationships with communities. The K-12 students they partner with work on literacy, environmental and STEM-related projects. Working with undergraduates also gives these students a glimpse into the college experience.聽

鈥淭he work has always been about education equity,鈥� says longtime director Christine Stickler. 鈥淏ringing undergraduate students into schools has a real impact on how they understand the enormous and deep impact that schools have in our community. For students to have an opportunity to understand how the education system works is an impactful way for them to understand the challenges, constraints and possibilities of the system.鈥�

McGregor鈥檚 longtime support has been critical to Riverways鈥� work. McGregor first got involved with the Pipeline Project in 2003, when she funded a quarter-long poetry outreach project working with the Quileute Tribe in LaPush. In 2010, she went on to fund a year-long program called 鈥淭elling Our Stories, Imagining Our Futures.鈥� This program takes place in Neah Bay, the home of the Makah Tribe. Through this program, 91探花undergraduates mentor Makah students in Neah Bay. Seeing college students from a similar background encourages the elementary students to envision their future, helping them learn about pathways to higher education and explore careers where they can live and lead in their home community. To date, 270 fifth-graders from Neah Bay have been mentored by 66 91探花students.聽

 

Auston Jimmicum, a member of the Makah tribe, 91探花alum and past Riverways mentor, remembers 91探花students visiting his fifth grade classroom. 鈥淚t was the first time I had ever talked to college students,鈥� reflected Jimmicum.聽 He goes on to explain 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what this program is doing: opening the students鈥� eyes, putting it in their heads that they have their whole lives to look forward to, and exposing them to this other world.鈥� While tutoring students in Neah Bay as part of Alternative Spring Break in 2018, two of the kids in his group said they wanted to study at UW.聽聽

The former name, Pipeline Project, originally reflected the intent to build connections and relationships all across Kindergarten, elementary, middle, high school and higher education institutions. However, the word 鈥減ipeline鈥� became increasingly associated with negative phenomena such as the destructive oil and gas lines running through Native American lands and the school-to-prison pipeline. The name change process was initiated to respond to these concerns from students and community partners.聽

Stickler started the process of the name change in 2019 in collaboration and consultation with the program鈥檚 students, alumni and tribal partners. One partner was Tami Hohn, the Lushootseed language instructor at the 91探花who suggested the concept of water and rivers as something that has connected communities around the world all throughout history. The word 鈥淩iverways鈥� was selected to reflect the program鈥檚 core mission of connecting people, schools and communities. The words 鈥渆ducation partnerships鈥� were also chosen to center the collaborative nature of the program鈥檚 relationships with community partners and the Seattle Public Schools.

The team collaborated with their Native American Partners and came up with a new focus statement: 鈥渃onnecting with students, schools and communities toward tribal sovereignty and racial justice.鈥� This bold statement takes ownership of their commitment to the anti-racist work that is the guiding core of the program鈥檚 work. It also honors their Native American partners’聽 unique struggle over land sovereignty.

鈥淐ollaboration is at the heart of our work,鈥� explains Stickler. 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful to our Native American students for starting this conversation and am proud to have a new program name that reflects our commitment to partnership and equity. I鈥檓 also grateful to Alyson for her generosity and continued enthusiasm for our work. We look forward to working together to continue Riverways鈥� work of providing transformative and growthful educational experiences for both 91探花and K-12 students, while addressing historical inequities in public education in Washington state.鈥�