I recently heard a story of a teacher who lined her students up for a short race on a field, to teach an object lesson about equity. Prior to starting the race, the teacher asked a series of questions related to how various students might have certain advantages in life. For example, those with a certain ethnicity were asked to take a step forward. Those who came from a two-parent family were to take a step forward. The teacher continued with various categories that have been shown to be significant in equity issues. By the time the race was about to begin, the disparity among the students was quite evident. Although the ground to cover in the race was quite short, many of the students were already well on their way to crossing the finish line.
We live in a season in which one’s ability to access technology plays a huge role in what kinds of advantages we have in achieving success in the “races” we must “run” in life. And for those in under-served communities, even the basic needs of self-advocacy, social connectedness, and pre-vocational readiness, can be impaired. This need is at the heart of what Inclusive Technology of Washington addresses.
We are approaching the one-year anniversary of Inclusive Technology of Washington teaching under-served populations science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) while teaching essential life skills and self-advocacy. You will see in subsequent pages of this newsletter how much we have accomplished in this time frame! For those of you who have supported us through donations of your time and money, we thank you!
Still, our work is far from over! Because our class sizes are kept low (out of necessity) and our instruction is open to even those with limited resources to pay, our expenses continue to exceed our revenues. In recent months we have incurred some debt in order to keep our classes open. As we look forward to expanding even further our reach this coming fall of 2025, our shortfalls are bound to increase.
And so, I challenge each of you to “take the next step” with our organization. For those of you who are first hearing about us, please consider forwarding this newsletter on to others to spread the word, or watch the video of our recent online talent show (link is below). For those of you who already know of the good work we do, please consider supporting us in other ways. For example, signing up to volunteer to assist our instructors during class times to help us keep instructor ratios high. Or volunteering to assist with our upcoming fundraiser on October 4th either with your time and/or procuring items for us to auction off (more details in subsequent pages). Or make a recurring donation to sponsor a student. Or a recurring donation to sponsor an entire class of students. Or if you own a business (or have connections with a business owner or corporation), we encourage you to consider sponsoring an entire class location, such as all our classes in Kirkland, Issaquah, Tukwila, Federal Way, Maple Valley, Enumclaw, or Tacoma. More details will be forthcoming about corporate sponsorship opportunities, but feel free to contact us now if you think this might be of interest to you. Every contribution is significant, and every contribution will help us further our mission!
For more information or to provide support, click on the links below.
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