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Innovia’s Launch Northwest reports local gains in mentoring and scholarships funded by Spokane Valley ARPA allocation
Summary
Launch Northwest and partners told Spokane Valley council that ARPA-funded support for Launch Northwest’s Empower Mentoring, scholarship awards and wraparound services expanded in 2024 and is tracking student attendance, FAFSA completion and other measures.
Launch Northwest and its partners told the Spokane Valley City Council that the ARPA‑linked $1 million grant the city awarded in 2022 has funded mentoring, college and career pathway work, scholarships and on‑site case management in valley high schools.
Sarah Farr, accounting and finance program manager for the city, reminded the council that the CLIFR/ARPA allocation enabled a $1 million contract with Innovia Foundation to support Launch Northwest’s work. Ben Small, executive director for Launch Northwest, said the program’s Empower Mentoring is now in all four Spokane Valley high schools, with near‑peer mentors from local universities, adult mentors and school‑based case managers provided by Family Promise.
Small said Family Promise has worked with 270 Spokane Valley families since June 2023 and that Launch Northwest awarded 20 scholarships in its first phase for 2024–25 — totaling $77,000 in the first year and approximately $320,000 when counted across the four‑year scholarship term. "Our scholarship is not good at University of Washington," Small said, emphasizing the program’s focus on regional institutions so recipients are likelier to remain in the local labor market.
Small also described an expanded data‑sharing approach: Launch Northwest has data‑sharing agreements with local school districts that allow tracking of de‑identified attendance and GPA changes for participating students. He said Empower students completed the FAFSA at an 8 percentage point higher rate than the state average and reported median attendance figures in the high 80s percent range in recent reporting periods.
Council members asked about measurable deliverables and financial modeling for scholarship sustainability. Small said the initiative has modeled scholarship commitments and that the city’s grant funds pay for program supports — site coordinators, transportation for college campus visits, Slingshot career exploration and the countywide data dashboard — rather than the scholarship principal, which the foundation raises privately.
Farr told the council that the Innovia reimbursements through October 2024 total about $295,000 and that the grant runs through 2026; Small said Launch Northwest plans to expend remaining funds by the grant expiration and to scale services in Spokane Valley.
