After a successful second year of SESEC’s Family Power Building (FamPow) Initiative, we are placing a call to action for community-based organizations (CBOs) to join year three of FamPow.
FamPow reflects SESEC’s growth from supporting families in navigating school systems toward building collective-family and community power to shape those systems. By partnering directly with CBOs, we aim to deepen cultural and language-specific engagement, strengthen family voice in Seattle Public Schools processes, and create sustainable and community-led structures for educational equity.
We look for community partners (with 501c3 status or are fiscally sponsored) who want to grow or develop their family engagement work– the ask is that they have a pre-existing or can put together a family group (at least 10 family members), and have one dedicated staff member who can attend training sessions with us and then lead capstone projects for their respective family group.
Interest forms are now open for Fall 2026 (Application Deadline: Aug 30th 2026). For questions, please email Geo at [email protected]
Spring 2026: Partnered with Kandelia and Rainier Scholars.
Fall 2025: Partnered with Seattle Council-PTSA, Washington Multicultural Services Link, and Indian Parent Advisory Committee
Purpose
The FamPow program strengthens the power of families to shape and influence Seattle Public Schools systems through organizing and collective advocacy.
FamPow partners with two trusted CBOs, each designating one staff member to be trained as a family organizer. These organizers will develop skills in community organizing, leadership development, and education advocacy. These organizers will engage in culturally- and language-responsive workshops that build their advocacy “muscle”, deepening their understanding of education systems, developing leadership confidence, and learning how to collectively drive change in Seattle Public Schools.
After the workshop experience, organizers will reflect their developed skills and learnings to their own CBO’s family group and program. Participating CBOs and their respective family organizers will complete a capstone projects that incorporates their learnings and skills, and engages their families in advocacy and collective action.
Qualifications:
- Be a 501c3 or fiscally-sponsored organization
- Currently have 1-2 staff members who are dedicated to family advocacy and action, and can commit to the program timeline (4-5 training sessions/workshops and completion of a capstone project)
- Have access to family groups of at least 10 OR can you easily form family groups of at least 10 members
- Organizational leadership is aware and receptive to this potential partnership.
- This means dedicating staff to participate in the FamPow and the acceptance of funds.
- Serve families who live in Southeast Seattle
- Your organization does not have to exclusively operate within Southeast Seattle, but services should reach those living in the region
Grant disbursement timeline:
- A $6,000 grant will be disbursed at the beginning of the program in order for organizations to have the funds to participate
- A $4,000 grant will be disbursed upon completion of the family capstone project by the end of Fall 2026 (December).
Program Goals
- Build Organizers, Not Just Navigators: Equip CBOs to transform families from system users into system influencers, at multiple levels of engagement, from school-based leadership to district advocacy.
- Shift from Deficit to Strengths-Based Thinking: Staff and families adopt a mindset that centers family expertise, recognizes systemic barriers, and counters assumptions that families are “lacking.”
- Deepen Cultural & Language Responsiveness: Ensure CBOs’ family programs reflect the lived experiences and identities of each community.
- Strengthen Systems Influence: Families will develop leadership and advocacy skills to provide public testimony at the Seattle School Board, ensuring community priorities are heard and acted upon.
- Sustain Leadership & Engagement: Develop a model that allows CBOs to continue training and empowering families beyond SESEC’s direct support
Program Structure
Phase 1: SESEC-Led Training (Train-the-Trainers)
- 4-5 sessions for staff from two partner CBOs, 2-3 hours in each session
- Session 1: Meet & Greet with CBOs to understand their family engagement strategies and identify topics to be trained on. Start draft of family engagement plan to resource capstone project.
- Potential Topics: racial equity, authentic engagement, strengths-based facilitation and countering deficit thinking, advocacy, navigating SPS systems, data, etc.
- Outcome: Each CBO develops a culturally-rooted family engagement plan and workshop curriculum.
Phase 3: CBO-Led Family Capstone Project
- Examples
- Hosting workshops in the community’s primary language to identify advocacy areas and collectivize action.
- Open letter to educational leaders or legislature
- School Board Testimony
- Goals: Build family leadership, gather collective input, identify advocacy areas, engage in action, create cohort of family leaders, and engage in system- and school-level transformation and accountability.
- Outcome: CBOs and family organizer grow and develop their family programs, centering family experiences and expertise, strengthen community and relationships, creating family leaders, and strengthening advocacy and social justice work.
Year 3 FamPow Timeline
| Month | Activity |
| ~Early September | Recruit 2 partner CBOs |
| ~Mid September | Meet and Greet (Learning Session design) |
| ~October-November | SESEC-organized training sessions (Phase 1; 4-5 sessions) |
| by end of December (to early January) | Capstone Project completion |
Expected FamPow Outcome
- CBO Staff as Family Organizers:
Two partner CBOs will have at least one trained staff member equipped to serve as a family organizer, capable of leading culturally- and linguistically responsive family capacity-building programming. - Family Engagement and Leadership:
Capstone and FamPow experiences will reach families of color with varying intersections of identity, building their knowledge, skills, and confidence to engage in school and district systems. - Collective Advocacy Capacity:
Families, supported by trained organizers, will actively participate in advocacy opportunities — such as providing public testimony or engaging in collaborative decision-making — influencing policies and practices within Seattle Public Schools. - Strengths-Based Mindset and Systems Awareness:
Families and CBO staff will develop a shared understanding of systemic barriers, recognize and build on family expertise, and approach challenges with a strengths-based, solution-oriented perspective. - Sustainable Community Leadership:
A growing network of empowered family organizers and family leaders will be established, fostering ongoing engagement, collaboration, and influence within schools and the broader district.
FamPow Fall 26 Application Form (Application Deadline: August 30th 2026)
Application Worksheet (printable form to work on with your CBO team before submitting formal application via Google Forms)