Seattle Milk Fund Programs
Seattle Milk Fund erases a financial barrier that prevents struggling parents from pursuing a college education. We open doors to better jobs, renewed confidence and financial stability, lifting families out of poverty.
Our families are one or two parent households whose income falls within 250% of the federal poverty guideline. Each student attends college full time and receives:
- childcare grant(s) of up to $1300.00 per quarter/per child
- an education grant of $300.00 per quarter
- emergency financial support and encouragement.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
A year after her husband had died of cancer, Nichelle Alderson, a sophomore at the University of Washington, found herself struggling to stay in school. “When things get rough, you just try to move forward, even when you don’t feel like it,” said Alderson. “A lot of my burdens were financial.”
With children in first and second grade, Alderson found out about Seattle Milk Fund through the childcare office at the university. “They were really receptive and they made the process really easy and nonthreatening,” said Alderson. Throughout the next couple of years, the organization contacted her regularly to check in. “It was a good experience, looking back, to have something to be responsible to, in addition to my own standards and myself,” she said. “They wanted to make sure their investment was worthwhile.”
Alderson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in law, society and justice. She went to work for The Defender Association, and while working full-time, she later earned her master’s degree in social work, completing the two-year program in one and a half years. She intends to teach and work in private practice, and eventually start a nonprofit organization that provides a holistic approach to social work for people of color.
Helping others through a donation to Seattle Milk Fund helps us all. Providing access to college for parents boosts our economy by increasing wages and depleting welfare rolls. In turn, our community becomes a better place.