25 Minutes with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Ken Thompson
1. What is your role within the Gates Foundation, and what interested you in the work you do?
I am a program officer on our Pacific Northwest team. Right now, the Gates Foundation has two major national efforts regarding education: one focused on college readiness – our K-12 focused effort – and one focused on post-secondary completion.
The Pacific Northwest initiative is the foundation’s local giving team. This work looks somewhat different than our national education efforts; we focus our efforts in Washington state both on educational attainment (starting from pre-K and going through college), as well as human services, including out-of-school time.
My portfolio has been centered primarily on youth-serving, community-based organizations. Before I was at the foundation, I worked in the arts, and I've seen quite a few youth-focused programs that are just phenomenal at exposing young people to new experiences and new ways of thinking about themselves and the world around them. For me, many of the really great youth development organizations inspire creativity. Youth deserve programs that engage and inspire them to continue their education, and creative activities are often a conduit for that. My background allows me to really see the value of creative expression, whether in traditional arts, computer programming, or whatever, and the role it plays in our country’s economic future.
2. What grantmaking projects are you working on and excited about right now?
A large portion of my work is focused on a community partnership in south Seattle and south King County, an area with startlingly low educational attainment rates. The Road Map for Education Results, led by the Community Center for Education Results (www.ccedresults.org), works with seven school districts and nine community colleges, as well as youth development and other organizations, to double the number of students who successfully complete a college credential by 2020. Instead of just focusing on one particular age group or a single leverage point, we want to see these kids stay on track all the way through their education.
The project was started last year as a comprehensive, community-wide collaboration. It has been very strongly based in data and measurement from the start. The community sets specific goals and education systems, and political leaders signed on in order to make this a success. I have been figuring out how to make sure all community organizations working with kids play a significant role so that this becomes an effort everyone can get behind.
3. Do you see this program becoming part of the national conversation on youth and education?
The focus of the Pacific Northwest initiative has always been local issues, and our work is very specific to this place, and very much based on our local relationships. We are approaching education system change in a broader and community-focused way. That is, in addition to the education system itself, we are recognizing and addressing out-of-school and family factors that contribute to the dropout crisis.
Overall, our local work isn't intended to be a model or pilot to inform our national education strategies. This doesn't mean that our work doesn’t have relevance to the national debate on education—just that it hasn't been our goal to create solutions that anyone can simply transplant to their community. We believe that each community needs to form its own solutions, and that a funder’s role can be about supporting and guiding local leaders to find the right solutions for their communities.
4. How does being part of the YTFG help you continue your work?
YTFG has been a great place for me to learn about what other people are doing in their local areas. For example, learning what the Penn Foundation has been doing in Philadelphia has been exciting, since their work has been focused on education systems change in a local context for some time. Other funders are taking different approaches to youth and education where they live, and I appreciate being able to talk with them one-on-one to see how they interpret and address the issues. While every community is different, we can certainly learn a lot from each other.
I also like being in a place where we are having conversations about the youth development field as a whole. We are still a ways from defining what quality is in this field, and determining whether or not the field can measure the results it’s aiming for. Nonprofits – and funders! - have to think hard about what they're trying to accomplish and how they can find the right measures to show meaningful results.
5. What trends do you look forward to in the grantmaking community over the next five years?
I continue to look forward to some good silo-busting. For example, how do we get the education and youth development sectors to talk to one another? To have shared goals? How do we mobilize all of our great youth-serving organizations to be a voice for the big changes that need to happen within the education system?
From where I stand, I see a powerful array of community partners that are there for the kids, and I know they can be a tremendous force for positive change. I think the most exciting thing for the future is community activation and collaboration around the needs of young people. Overall, I have a huge amount of hope that large-scale change is possible. After 10 years of making grants in youth development, I continue to find reasons to feel inspired. I've seen enough programs that do work, have strong and rigorously measured results, and inspire young people to succeed. The trick in the next five years or so is to continue to push for high standards and high-quality programs, while creating better connections between youth program providers and the more formal education system players.
To find out more about the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, go to www.gatesfoundation.org.
25 Minutes is a YTFG interview series to introduce new members to our network of philanthropic leaders and to update the Action Group on the emerging work of long-time members of the Youth Transition Funders Group.
