Latino/a Educational Achievement Project Annual Conference

Students from Mattawa high School (sponsored by Wahluke School District, M.E.C.H.A and the WSU Horizons Program) attended the annual LEAP education conference and legislative day along with nearly 850 other Latino students for a 3-day event held in Tacoma and Olympia, January 17-19. Students, ranging from middle school to college, participated in educational workshops, and heard from the state’s top elected officials. In Olympia, participants met with their state representatives to talk about public policies aimed at improving educational opportunities and outcomes for Latinos. Perhaps most importantly, students saw and heard from their peers— students their ages—engaged in leadership activities and excelling in high school and college, sometimes against great odds.

Grants Library

The Horizons program has purchased and supplied the community with a small grants library to assist community members in furthering their needs to seek funding in order to advance our efforts towards poverty reduction. The small library has been purchased from the Foundation Center and consist of the following books

• Foundation Directory, 2008
• Foundation Directory, Part 2
• Foundation Directory, Supplement
• National Directory of Corporate Giving, 13th edition
• Foundation Today Series
• Foundation Centers Guide to Winning Proposals
• Grantseeking on the Web
• Foundation Fundamentals
• Foundation Center’s Guide to Proposal Writing
• Guia Para Escribir Propuestas

The grants library will be housed at the Wahluke Community Library for easy use by community members.

Community Grant Writing

The Horizons Program is sponsoring a Grant Writing Workshop for community members and community agency partners on April 4 & 5. The program was honored to have renowned grants trainer Susan Howlett. During the two-day training the following topics were covered:

• Where does money come from (types of sources and where to find them)
• How do you decide what’s a good match for you and your project.
• How do you prepare your organization to be grant-ready.
• Writing a compelling letter of inquiry
• What do grantmakers look for in a proposal.
• What are the standard questions and what are strong answers for each.
• Budgets and other support documents and the stories they tell.
• Cultivation, recognition and stewardship of grantors.
• How to corroborate need.
• How to articulate outcomes or measurable objectives.
• How to develop an evaluation plan.
• An exercise in reviewing real letter of inquiry.

TE Connections Update

On April 3rd the Mattawa High School TE Connections Club traveled to Spokane to attend their Second Annual Culture and Technology Exchange between Mattawa and the Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane School District 81. After a day of training and activities, Mattawa students were given 40 computers to refurbish and donate to local community members who do not have computers. The distribution will occur later this year with the assitance of the Department of Social and Health Services. Horizons was one of the sponsor's of this workshop.

Leadership Plenty Graduates