Statewide network, reaching 100,000+ students in 200+ schools across 40 districts, marks 35 years of showing up for Washington’s young people, with a signature Gala celebration planned for Spring 2027.
Communities In Schools of Washington (CISWA) today launched its 35th Anniversary celebration, marking 35 years of connecting Washington students with the caring adults, critical resources, and community support they need to stay in school and achieve in life. Founded in 1991, CISWA has grown from a single idea in the Puget Sound into a statewide network now reaching more than 100,000 students every year.
The anniversary campaign, anchored by the theme “35 years of showing up,” will span the full year leading to the organization’s exact founding date on November 4, 2026, and culminate in a signature Gala celebration in Spring 2027 bringing together the champions, changemakers, and community members who have been part of the CISWA story.
A Movement Born from Belief
The story of CISWA begins not in Washington, but on the streets of New York. In 1977, Bill Milliken, a youth worker who had spent years alongside young people in Harlem and the Lower East Side, founded Communities In Schools on a radical conviction: that bringing community resources inside schools, where students already are, could change the course of a young person’s life. His guiding belief was simple: “It’s relationships, not programs, that change children.”
Fourteen years later, Washington’s own leaders answered that call. On November 4, 1991, Boeing, Costco, and a coalition of business and education leaders who were concerned about a public school system stretched thin, trying to meet students’ non-academic needs alongside their academic ones, founded Communities In Schools of Washington. The Puget Sound became the launchpad for what would become a statewide movement.
35 Years, 100,000+ Students, One Mission
In the decades since, CISWA’s network has grown steadily across the state. Beginning in the early 1990s, local leaders launched affiliate organizations in Lakewood (1993), Seattle (1998), Peninsula (2000), and Puyallup (2002). By the late 2000s, the model had crossed the Cascades with the launch of CIS of Spokane County in 2007, marking CISWA’s commitment to serving rural, urban, and suburban communities alike.
In 2023, Ballmer Group, co-founded by Connie and Steve Ballmer and rooted in Washington state, invested $9 million in the CISWA network, the largest targeted investment in the organization’s history, designed to deepen services in 45 schools and reach more than 64,000 students by 2028.
Today, the network spans 200+ schools, 40 school districts, and 12 affiliates, and on November 4, 2026, CISWA will mark exactly 35 years to the day since its founding.
Celebrating with Community
The anniversary campaign includes a year-long digital timeline on CISWA’s website chronicling seven key milestones in the organization’s history; a story collection initiative inviting alumni, staff, board members, and community partners to share their own CISWA memories; a $35.35/month giving campaign called the “35.35 Giving Circle” donor community; and a Spring 2027 Anniversary Gala bringing the full CISWA community together in celebration.
“Thirty-five years ago, a group of Washington leaders bet on the belief that every student deserves someone in their corner,” said Gwynth Nelson, Executive Director of Communities In Schools of Washington. “This anniversary is a celebration of everyone who has shown up, for our students, for our schools, and for each other, across three and a half decades. We can’t wait to mark this milestone with the community that made it possible.”