Highline Colleagues,

Last week we shared that the college received notification from the Department of Education of the non-continuation of our Title III Strengthening Institutions (SIP) grant. We submitted a request for reconsideration of this decision, but we were notified on September 30th that this decision is final and will not be reconsidered. This action ended the grant one year early, on the final day of our fourth year.

The Department of Education stated, “Department staff identified that the applicant has proposed project activities that conflict with the Department’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education. Specifically, grantee has an equity strategies lead with a responsibility to, ‘Offer professional development workshops in equity and inclusion,’ …As a result of the information identified above, the Department has determined that continuation of the project is not in the best interest of the Federal Government.” (preceding text is taken verbatim from the letter from DOE)

Highline College is proud of the collaboration across divisions that has resulted in the legacy of the Title III project, including:

• Entry Advising
• Data-informed decision-making
• Embedded Tutoring and E-tutoring
• Professional Development for staff and faculty
• Advising

Highline College successfully operated its Title III SIP grant program for four years to the benefit of 17,539 students, over 12,000 of whom are low income or first generation college students. We want to offer our thanks for the dedication of all staff and faculty who worked on Title III projects, particularly Jennifer Johnston, who oversaw and guided the work as our Title III Director, and the Title III Core Team (Juli Hammond, Kelsey Anderson, Dr. Sangeeta Sangha, and Dr. Erich Elwin). This grant offered us a great opportunity to learn, grow, and develop across the college community in ways that support student growth and development. Title III SIP funding is designed to help colleges “expand their capacity to serve low-income students,” and this work will continue.

In Community,

John, Rolita, Jamilyn, Maribel, Michael, Josh, Melanie, Tim

Highline College Executive Cabinet

Jess, Mariela, Steve, Jill, Shakira, Jack, Francesca, Ay and David

Joint Information Center (JIC)