Good morning, Kristin,

The Archdiocese of Seattle is currently hosting, in partnership with NCEA, the Catholic Leadership Summit. This is an annual gathering Catholic educational system leaders and superintendents from across the country, and the summit serves as a platform for sharing best practices, addressing key challenges in Catholic education, and fostering collaboration among dioceses. A major theme of the summit focuses on aligning Catholic education with the pastoral and strategic priorities of the Church, emphasizing faith formation, leadership development, and strengthening Catholic identity in schools. 

This summit reminds me of something fundamental to our work—that we are truly stronger together. The challenges we face as Catholic educators can feel daunting, but we are never alone in this mission. The opportunity to gather with others who share the same passion for faith-based education is a powerful reminder of the support and collaboration we can draw from one another.

With that in mind, I am especially looking forward to meeting with all of you next week at our annual Principal and Pastoral Leadership Meeting. It will be a valuable time for us to reconnect, share updates, and continue our work as a unified team. The strength of our leadership as pastors and principals is critical to the success of our schools, and I am eager for us to reflect together on how we can continue to grow.

*  *  *  *  *

Last week we shared an important update from IT. In summary, we have experienced an increasing number of exploit attempts attempting to take advantage of the relationship between the Archdiocese of Seattle and both the parishes and schools in Western Washington.  

In attempts to misdirect funds, hackers are creating official appearing messages that inform the recipient of a bank change at the archdiocese and supplying alternative wire instructions compelling the recipient to wire monies to the hacker.  

Please note: the Archdiocese has not recently changed its banking relationship. Any communication suggesting that change is not real.  

Thank you for your attention to this.

With gratitude, 

NICHOLAS FORD | Superintendent

Office for Catholic Schools | Archdiocese of Seattle

LAST CALL - Fulcrum New Student Tuition Assistance Grant Program 2024-2025

Fulcrum’s New Student Tuition Assistance Program, formerly known as Rolling Tuition Assistance Program (RTAP) still has funding available. I am extending the deadline to October 17^th. This program is open to all schools that participate in the Fulcrum Foundation Tuition Assistance Grant Program, commonly known as TAP.

This program is different than TAP in that families do not apply for the program on their own. Schools administer this program at the local level and determine whether a family qualifies using a form provided by Fulcrum. In short, a family must:

• be new to Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Seattle for the 2024-2025 school year (transfer students from other Catholic schools in the Archdiocese are not eligible)
• not have been awarded a Fulcrum TAP grant for 2024-2025
• qualify for the Federal Reduced Lunch Program
• students awarded grants must be in grades K-8

After a school has determined that a family qualifies, they will submit the form to Fulcrum via email (the form is also attached to this email). Grants in the amount of $1,000 each are then approved by Fulcrum on a first come, first served basis until a school has met its max number of grants (3) or program funding has been exhausted for the year ($70,000 total).

LINK to Program Overview

LINK to Grant Request Form

It’s important to note that these are one-time grants for students that are new to the school. They are not renewable. In future years, families are expected to apply to the Fulcrum Foundation Tuition Assistance Grant Program (TAP) via FACTS which they may or may not qualify for based on their current financial information in relation to the total pool of applicants.

Questions? Contact Susan Ocoma at 206.748.7988 or susan.ocoma@fulcrumfoundation.org.

LAST CALL! Fulcrum Tuition Assistance Survey

The Fulcrum Foundation is seeking information to learn about financial aid practices at your school, your satisfaction with TAP as it currently exists, and gather any other feedback about tuition assistance you are open to sharing.

Please take a moment this week, if you haven't already, to complete the survey by clicking this link: https://forms.office.com/r/1s6BfG3GtM.

Contact Susan Ocoma with any questions.

School Partnership Grant (SPG) Program

The SPG Program application will open October 23, 2024, and the deadline to submit applications for consideration will be November 15, 2024.

Schools may apply for a grant through this program if they:

• Are a Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Seattle

AND

• Are not a high school that is in the Norcliffe Foundation Service area

The SPG grant may cover:

1. Up to 75% of the total project cost, at a maximum grant of $10,000

Or

1. Up to 100% of the remaining funding needed to complete a project, at a maximum grant of $10,000, so long as the minimum of 75% of the total funding has already been secured.

Each eligible school may receive funding in either FY25 or FY26. No schools will receive funding in both years.

Note for Pierce County Elementary Schools: Fulcrum’s current agreement with the Snyder Foundation ends in FY26, and is restricted for elementary schools in Pierce County and for capital projects. To fulfill our agreement with the Snyder Foundation, a separate application for Snyder funding will be available to Catholic elementary schools in Pierce County on the same timeline as the SPG Program. Detailed information will be emailed to you directly in the next week or so. 

Fulcrum Impact Day

We are excited to introduce a new initiative we are launching this fall on Monday, October 28 and Tuesday, October 29: Fulcrum’s Impact Day(s). 

Over the course of these two days, a Fulcrum staff member, board member, or ambassador will visit each of your schools to personally present a summary of Fulcrum’s support provided to your individual school along with an oversized ‘faux’ check showcasing the amount of tuition assistance Fulcrum donors are providing families this year. The check will be delivered to the principal by the Fulcrum rep, we will take a couple photos for social media posts, and we hope you will hang the ‘check’ in your school for the fall. Our hope is to showcase our support locally at each school and make the impact more relevant within your community. 

All arrangements will be made by our staff team, and we will provide you with the name/s of the persons visiting your school, the date, and the approximate time of their arrival. The visit should take approximately 10-15 minutes as we do not intend to disrupt your busy school day. 

More details will follow in the Keystone and via email. Thank you for noting these dates on your calendar. If you have any questions, please contact Amy Hall at hall.amy@fulcrumfoundation.org or 206.226.5679.