Puget Sound Transformational Collaborative

The Puget Sound Transformational Collaborative (PSTC) launched in June 2020 in response to the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and the magnification of institutional racism. Hosted by the Puget Sound Educational Service District, and in partnership with PSESD's Community Wisdom Council (CWC), the collaborative convenes community, district, and educational leaders across King and Pierce counties to improve the wellbeing and educational experiences of Youth and Families of Color.

Challenge

The student population of King & Pierce Counties is 57% students of color while only 16% are Educators of Color (1). The wisdom, experiences, and dreams of our Communities of Color are underrepresented and historically underserved in our white-centered institutions.

Why It Matters

Our school boards, students, families and communities of color have named family-school partnerships as a top priority (2).

The pandemic has created an increased sense of urgency and possibility for family-school partnerships to transform classroom conditions and experiences for our region’s youth (3).

Our Journey

2020 – 2022

The collaborative built foundations to be inclusive, healthy, and sustainable. In partnership with our Community Wisdom Council (CWC) we identified four opportunity areas for supporting Youth, Families, and Educators of Color. Together we created a PSTC Playbook for supporting regional work in each area.

Click here to read the playbook!

2022 – 2023

We continued to grow our community and deepen our community-district partnerships as we center voices and leadership of communities, Youth and Families of Color.

2023 – 2024

The PSTC community is committed to being courageous trailblazers in the learning, modeling & championing of partnering with youth and families to center Communities of Color in district and regional decision-making.

Join us!

Values and Goals

Our Why

Centering community and transforming ourselves. By partnering with youth and families that reflect our region, we can transform our systems to center the identities, wisdom, and aspirations of our Communities of Color. We also believe that in order to create authentic partnerships, we need to transform ourselves and the ways we show up to do this work.

Our How

The PSTC is a monthly meeting space in which we reflect, connect, learn, and act together in this work as ‘courageous trailblazers’ that design, implement, and adapt the personal, relational and community-building foundations for authentic partnership.

The Process is the Outcome

We have found that with a strong, diverse, and flourishing community, we are well-positioned to thought-partner with districts in support of their own youth, family, and community-centering processes and goals.

Seeing & Feeling Progress, Together

We all need to see and feel the changes emerging from our work together as both our mirror and our North Star. We are working together to co-design processes and measures of progress that center youth, family, and community.

Design Team