Graduate Tacoma

Pathways to Possibility: Supporting 1,840 More Students to Success

During last week’s State of Public Education (SOPE) symposium, Foundation for Tacoma Students Executive Director Dr. Tafona Ervin set forth a clear vision: supporting 1,840 more Tacoma students to post-secondary completion through coordinated pathways to possibility. Her remarks surface both the challenge and opportunity before us – while 88% of our students aspire to post-secondary education, only 52% currently enroll.

Dr. Ervin’s message powerfully illustrates how we can close this gap through collective action and sustained commitment. By aligning our efforts across institutions and creating coordinated systems of support, we can transform these 1,840 dreams into reality. Each pathway we build, each barrier we remove, brings us closer to our 2030 goal of 70% post-secondary completion.

We’re sharing Dr. Ervin’s full remarks because this vision of possibility deserves to reach beyond the walls of our symposium. The future of our community depends on our ability to work together in creating clear, supported pathways for every student. We invite you to read her complete address and consider your role in building these essential pathways to possibility.

Looking around this room, I see something extraordinary. People who don’t just care about education, but who live, breathe and fight for it every day. 

We come from nine different school districts – eight from Pierce County and one from South King County. We represent different neighborhoods, face different challenges, and take different approaches in this work. But from Peninsula to Franklin Pierce, from Bethel to Federal Way,  we share one fundamental belief: that every student deserves a clear path to their dreams. 

Your presence here today – superintendents, teachers, counselors, practitioners, investors, policymakers, and community at large – speaks volumes about who we are. We don’t just talk about collaboration, we show up for it. We live it. And it’s this collective energy that makes transformative change possible. 

Right now, in high schools across our region, students are grappling with the uncertainty of their futures. They have dreams, but the path ahead feels unclear. They see their families struggling to make ends meet, with parents working multiple jobs just to cover rising rent and grocery bills.

As they weigh the costs of college, apprenticeships, and certifications against their daily realities, the question, “How can I make this work?” echoes around dinner tables throughout our community. 

These conversations drive our commitment to these families: that by 2030,  70% of our high school graduates will earn a degree, technical certificate, or secure a good-earning wage employment opportunity within 6 years of graduation. 

We are data-driven in Tacoma. We’ve done the math and we know that to reach our 70% goal, we must support 1,840 more students to find and complete their chosen pathway to possibility. 

And this number is just part of a larger picture.

Every student we support in Tacoma contributes to broader impact across Pierce County, where we must guide 7,875 more students to complete a postsecondary credential by 2030. And when we succeed here, we create momentum that ripples across Washington state, where 49,103 more students need our support to reach their dreams.

I know some might look at these numbers and feel overwhelmed. That the barriers – the bureaucracy, the long-standing power structures, the resource gaps – make this change impossible. 

And they’re right about one thing: we cannot realize the transformation we seek in our systems if we work in isolation. The challenges are too complex, too deeply rooted for any one person or organization to solve alone.

But here in Pierce County, we’ve discovered something powerful: we don’t have to. 

When a community moves as one – when we align our efforts, share our resources, and commit to every single student – what seems impossible becomes inevitable. Every incremental change we make, every student we support, every barrier we break down together moves us closer to the future our young people deserve.

There’s a narrative being told about this generation. We’ve all heard it. The story that claims our kids don’t see the value in education beyond high school. That they’re not willing to put in the work. 

But our data tells a different story. In our conversations with young people, in the hopes they share with us, we see a powerful truth.

88% of our students, nearly 9 out of 10, tell us they want to continue their education after high school. They understand that in today’s economy, a postsecondary credential isn’t just an option, it’s the pathway to possibility, to opportunity, and to stability. 

Yet in 2022, only 52% of our students enrolled in a postsecondary program. This 36 percentage point gap isn’t just a statistic. It’s the distance between dreams and reality. 

It represents thousands of students who want to move forward but face barriers too difficult to defeat alone. These are thousands of dreams deferred. Thousands of paths to homeownership, to financial stability, to breaking cycles of poverty – put on hold not because our young people lack ambition, but because our systems lack coordination.

This is where the power of our movement comes in. Real change happens when we think and act differently within the systems we occupy. When we transform our individual roles into collective action. When we recognize that every step forward in Tacoma builds momentum for Pierce County, and every win in Pierce County catalyzes change across Washington state.

The pathway to possibility isn’t built by institutions – it’s built by people, working together, committed to seeing every student succeed. That’s the power of us. That’s how transformation happens. Not through isolated efforts or good intentions, but through coordinated action and unwavering commitment to every student’s success.

We’ve already seen proof that dedicated support works. Through Campaign Free Aid, our financial aid navigator strategy has moved beyond promise to practice. Six of our 17 participating schools saw more students completing financial aid applications than the year before. Twelve of these schools outpaced both state and national completion rates. Behind every one of these numbers is a student who found their pathway to possibility because someone was there to help along the way.

This isn’t just about filling out forms – it’s about opening doors. When students have someone dedicated to helping them explore career options, navigate financial aid, and understand their choices after high school, they’re more likely to find and follow their path to a well-paying career. Whether that path leads to college, technical training, or apprenticeships, having the right support makes all the difference.

That’s why we’re pushing to expand this model. We need outreach specialists in every district across this state. We need to break down the walls between K-12 and higher education so that data is shared and we can guarantee a smooth hand-off from one to the other. We need to train a new generation of advisors who understand that this work is both technical and deeply human. Because helping a young person chart their future requires both expertise and empathy.

When we talk about postsecondary success, we’re not just talking about individual achievement. We’re talking about our community’s economic vitality. We’re talking about reducing homelessness, improving mental health outcomes, creating pathways to homeownership and financial stability. We’re talking about the future of our entire region.

The truth is, we live in a time where the pressure of academic excellence often overshadows the more pressing concerns about the well-being of our children and their families. It’s not enough to champion test scores if we aren’t addressing the fractured foundations many of our students are standing on.

Today, you’ll hear directly from students and the dedicated adults supporting them at each critical stage of their journey. From ninth graders experiencing the challenging transition to high school, to seniors preparing to take their next big step. Their stories aren’t just testimonials – they’re blueprints for change.

Pay close attention to what these young people tell us. Listen for the moments that made a difference – that teacher who stayed after school, that counselor who wouldn’t let them give up, that mentor who showed them what was possible. Listen also for the gaps – the support they wish they had, the information they struggled to find, the barriers that still stand in their way.

This work takes all of us. No single institution, no individual program can solve the deeply complex challenges we face in achieving our community’s goal. We must be willing to create a new way that supports the young people of today while building an equitable system for tomorrow.

To the educators and service providers in this room: these stories will remind you why your work matters. 

To our policymakers and funders: these stories will show you exactly what we mean when we talk about the need for systemic change. 

And to all of our community partners: these stories will demonstrate why we can’t afford to wait.

Every day, I witness the extraordinary commitment in our community. I see counselors staying late to help students with applications. I see community organizations stretching limited resources to serve more families. I see educators going above and beyond to create opportunities for their students. We see you. We honor your dedication.

Now imagine what these dedicated professionals could do with sustainable funding. Imagine what our students could achieve if every barrier had a bridge, every challenge had a solution, every dream had a pathway.

That’s why we’re here today. Not just to talk about these challenges, but to commit to solving them. 

Together. 

One Community. 

Every Child. 

Cradle to Career. 

The pathway to possibility isn’t just about where our students can go – it’s about who we choose to be as a community. Thank you for joining us today. Let’s build the future our young people deserve!



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