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WASAC outlines 'Your Future Funded' week, trusted-messenger push and toolkits
Summary
WASAC staff described a two-part governor-branded outreach (postcard to ~51,000 nonfilers, letter in May), expanded trusted-messenger work, and a toolkit to support the 'Your Future Funded' finish-your-application week centered on April 20.
Sarah Weiss, director of College Access Initiatives, and WASAC staff used the advisory meeting to lay out operational plans for the inaugural "Your Future Funded" finish-your-application week and related outreach.
Weiss said a flexible toolkit of communication materials, event templates and guidance will be published the week of March 2 and will be available for partners to use or adapt. The aim is for every senior to receive at least one touch point leading into the campaign’s culminating week in April. "The main goal of this inaugural effort is to ensure that every senior has at least one touch point," Weiss said.
WASAC described a two-step governor‑branded strategy: an earlier governor-backed postcard to roughly 51,000 seniors who have not filed, followed by a governor-signed letter in May when decisions are more immediate. Staff said the postcard is intended as a lighter-touch prompt, while the mailed letter serves as a higher-salience final appeal.
The board also emphasized increasing in-person supports, expanding language access, and using local microgrants to fund 1-on-1 help where it moves numbers fastest. WASAC will use a new report that flags schools falling behind to trigger direct, relationship-based outreach and match schools with trusted messengers — counselors, principals or community-based partners — who already have credibility with students and families.
Local partners on the call described successful tactics: student-produced videos for social outreach, FAFSA nights co-hosted with community colleges, parent liaisons for follow-up calls, navigators coordinating regional events, and aligning FAFSA completion messaging with scholarship applications. WASAC asked advisory members to help recruit or connect trusted messengers and to share local events and networks that could host targeted outreach in communities with low completion rates.
WASAC staff asked members to pilot and share materials between now and the next advisory meeting and to consider hosting regional trainings to scale one-on-one assistance.
