Civic Engagement Clearinghouse

Eastern Washington University

Partner Organizations

Tilth Alliance

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Student Contributor -M. Olson
The Tilth Alliance has a number of garden programs that are aimed to educate the community. They have urban farms, gardens, and kitchens where community members can participate in hands-on experiences to become educated. They offer classes to help get your own garden or farm started. They even have a hotline for any questions. They provide education, funding, conferences, and advocacy for farming and agriculture in Washington state.

Through its many programs, the Tilth Alliance has created sustainable practices such as regenerative and productive farming, water conservation, and carbon storing. They provide grants to farmers to start their own sustainable practices. The Tilth Alliance works to end food inequity. They put together and hand out free food bags filled with organic, healthy fruits and vegetables. They support small farms and provide discounts to those that need them. The Tilth Alliance works towards environmental justice. They recognize that communities of color are disproportionately affected by environmental hazards. To aid in this cause, they plant in disadvantaged areas, restore infrastructure, and most importantly educate the public, especially youth.

The Tilth Alliance is extremely passionate about educating our youth. They have partnered with many other organizations to reach communities that could benefit from their work. They are so successful because of their thousands of volunteers who plant, shop, donate, and partner with them. The Tilth Alliance could teach one of their classes or put on one of their programs for students at your school.

Wenatchee CAFE

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Student Contributor -J. Skok
The Community for the Advancement of Family Education (CAFE) is a non-profit organization located in Wenatchee, WA. CAFE aims to advance family and community growth through education. They provide opportunities in leadership, civic and social engagement, literacy development, and academic achievement.

CAFE focuses on family education, community participation, promoting leadership, and environmental justice. All of these things are valuable in helping people grow both personally and in the community. CAFE has a variety of activities that help bring the community and families together. One of their goals is to enhance the scholastic abilities of students K-12 to help them prepare for college or vocational school after graduation. They believe that family unity transcends into education, therefore, making it a family affair. CAFE helps to make this possible for families. They also want their community members to be active leaders in helping promote environmental justice.

CAFE holds many events throughout the year to help develop education and leadership. They are always looking for volunteers for these events. Every year, CAFE holds a dinner fundraiser in which they award seven scholarships to graduating seniors from the NCW area. Students could potentially help set up for the dinner to help prepare for this big event. Wenatchee is so culturally diverse simply introducing students to this organization can provide them an opportunity for growth that they didn’t know was out there.

The Last Road Dog Animal Sanctuary

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Student Contributor -R. Reichert
The Last Road Dog Animal Sanctuary is owned and operated by the Pitt family. TLRD is an organization that take in dogs, cats, and horses that might not have a chance to be adopted or are forgotten by their families, due to various ailments or behavioral issues. They give them a home to spend the rest of their lives and become part of the Pitt family. Their mission is to prevent cruelty to animals in need of medical attention, subject to danger or abuse, hungry or starving, or under any other distress or cruelty. They also adopt animals from owners in distressed situations where they might not be able to care for their animals any longer.

The Last Road Dog Sanctuary has a large ranch home on 42 acres of property in Cheney, WA. All indoor animals spend the night inside the house, safe and sound. Outdoor animals can go outside in a fenced yard to enjoy 2.5 acres with grass and trees. TLRD become pet’s guardian angels and will take in animals to give owners in distress a peace of mind. They provide the pets with a safe, loving, and permanent home for the rest of their lives. TLRD has a 30-year long history of animal care to back their devotion and commitment to the animals and distressed owners. This organization often takes animals from other rescue or other welfare organizations where they might be overpopulated. The Last Road Dog Sanctuary is an approved charitable organization and is registered with the Charities Program of the Washington Secretary of State. There are a few projects TLRD has been working on regarding rescue projects. Jenny’s fund is a fund used to help families with sick pets who do not have the financial ability to provide them with the necessary treatment. This fund helps provide financial aid to low-income owners so their pet can get the care needed. This fund was named after a German Shepard who is being provided with chemo treatment at the WSU Vet Hospital in Pullman, WA. TLRD provided $10,000 in support for both Hurricane Ida lost dogs needing to be reunited with their owners or finding new owners. They also helped rescue many of the military dogs left in Afghanistan needing help being returned to the States.

There are many ways teachers and students could partner with this organization to make a difference. The Last Road Dog Sanctuary organization has a website that has several ways money donations can be placed, including PayPal, Square Payment, or simply by mailing a payment directly to them. They are also thankful for any other donations that could be made. This includes hay, oats, dog/cat food, treats, toys, etc. Teachers could come together and have a school-wide donation drive from all the items listed. TLRD would be grateful for any and all donations received.

Little Lives Rescue

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Student Contributor -K. Conrad
Little Lives Rescue is one of the first small animal rescues in the PNW and the only one in Tri-Cities Washington. They help find permanent loving homes for companion animals that have been rescued from abuse, neglect, or abandonment and to educate our community about proper small animal care and the importance of overpopulation prevention. The more people become aware of this rescue, the more the decrease in found/abandoned animals and a tremendous increase in owners surrenders.

Little Lives Rescue is a nonprofit small animal rescue located in Tri-Cities, Washington. They are dedicated to finding permanent living homes for birds, reptiles, and rodents that have been rescued from abuse, neglect, or abandonment. Their focus is to educate the community about proper small animal car and the importance of overpopulation prevention. Little lives are committed to finding perfect forever home with their wellbeing as the number 1 priority. They provide a very flexible and detailed process in order to adopt an animal. Along with adoption there are a variety of other ways to help this organization. This includes things like fostering an animal, donating money, volunteering, and driving the animals to proper medical buildings. Teachers should consider partnering with them to help small animals that are endangered in the community to give them a better life, while also informing students why helping the community is so important.

Now, please describe how you think teachers and students could partner with the organization to make a difference – either from experience, something you heard about, or from your own creativity.
There are a variety of different ways teachers and students could partner with the organization. This can include talking a field trip to volunteer one day at the shelter to gain information and create an experience the students will never forget. Another way involves the students learning about the organization and then making treats for each specific animal and donating those to the shelter.

Family Promise

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Student Contributor -D Dougherty
Family Promise has a goal of helping family homelessness. They are here to help create connections for homeless families in order to help with support networks for those in need. Their mission statement is one of changing from a cycle of survival to a cycle of transformation.

Family Promise helps others with local resources because sometimes it can be hard for people to even get to the resources that they need. Their large goals are prevention, shelter, and preparation for people who are soon to be homeless. Rental assistance and case management is a few ways that Family Promise helps prevent homelessness. Their emergency sheltering is there to help the homeless families with resources and hospitality so that they can focus more on getting a place to live again rather than having to worry about each individual day. For preparation, the goal is to help those who have successfully been able to fight their circumstances, remain stable.

Partnering with Family Promise could be a good way to get students to see that there is homelessness outside of what it typically expected. Often the belief is that homeless people are alone and don’t have support, but there is a large growing population of families with children that are suffering from the same issues. I think that some exposure to this side of Spokane could do good for everyone as we should be more aware of our hometown and how we can create positive change. With this organization, students could work on a food drive to help the organization, clothing drives, and much more.

Salvation Army

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Student Contributor -K Carrell
The Salvation Army provides a large range of basic human need services. These services consist of disaster relief, helping families with holiday giving, providing LGBTQ support, having a commitment to diversity, creating homeless shelters and food pantries, providing grassroots services, rehabilitation services, spiritual healing, job training, veteran services, services for aging, and helping victims of domestic abuse.

In order for the Salvation Army to ensure they are properly serving the coming, the Salvation Army educates themselves on the hardships, obstacles, and challenges that the members of the community are facing. After determining what the needs of the community are, the Salvation Army creates local programs that are designed to offer immediate relief, short-term care, and long-term growth in the areas that the members of the community will best benefit from. Ater creating the programs, the Salvation Army offers these services to the community. The Salvation Army continually works to improve these services to ensure that they are still meeting the needs of the community and improving the lives of the individuals in the community.

Due to the Salvation Army educating themselves on the hardships of the community, the Salvation Army is a great organization for teachers and students to partner to help make a difference in their community. Teachers and students can partner with the Salvation Army in various different ways. The Salvation Army conducts food drives, clothing drives, and toy drives. Teachers could reach out to the Salvation Army and see what they are in need of and create a drive based on the need. The Salvation Army always needs volunteers and students and their parents could volunteer in providing a service to the community.