Our Funders

At early colleges for Native youth, state test scores have increased an average of 16%.
Photo credit: Jerry Davis

In the spring of 2002, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, and the Ford Foundation, announced funding for the start-up of early college high schools across the nation. These innovative high schools blend high school and college requirements so underserved students can earn high school diplomas and up to two years of college credit concurrently. Such high schools seek to double the number of underserved students earning college degrees.

The Center for Native Education was initially selected by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as an intermediary to develop early college high schools serving Native American and other underserved students in Washington State. The Center was selected because of its work establishing reservation-based undergraduate and graduate degree programs at the request of Native nations. Additionally, Antioch was among the first colleges in the nation to provide higher education access to women and minority and minority students. In 2005, the Center received expansion funding from the Gates Foundation to develop early college high schools nationwide.

The Center for Native Education has also benefited from grants from the Kellogg Foundation to engage tribal and college stakeholders in supporting the schools. Additionally, Lumina Foundation for Education provided the Center with funding to develop and implement A New Path: Intergenerational Indigenous Higher Education at early colleges in the national network. The New Path project allows adults and adolescents to attend early college classes together and earn college credit. In 2006, the Gates Foundation paid for the Center to refine our vision and strategies by supporting business and financial planning with the Bridgespan Group.

In 2007, College Spark Washington awarded the Center for Native Education funding to support the formation of a "Making College the Norm" coalition that includes six Washington community colleges in creating grade 6-14 pipelines to increase higher education access of Native and other underserved youth.