One afternoon Trish Millines Dziko (a Microsoft employee at the time) and Jill Hull Dziko (a Seattle Mental Health employee at the time) were walking their dogs near Lake Washington. The conversation turned to education and they discovered that they both wanted to start a school for underserved kids of color. Jill focused on the lack of quality education for children of color and Trish, of course, focused on technology.
After many meetings with friends, family, community members and professional peers, they decided the best way to leverage resources was to start a foundation that collaborates with existing organizations to focus on education and technology.
Their respective business, technical and social service talents were a natural combination to launch the Technology Access Foundation (TAF).
They quit their old jobs and TAF opened its doors October 1, 1996.
Technical Teens Internship Program (TTIP) and Higher Ed Bound (HEB) targeted teenagers interested in getting into college directly out of high school. TTIP started in 1997 to provide sophisticated technical and soft skills training for 9th to 12th grade students of color. All TTIP students applied the skills they learned in the program to compete for paid summer internships with local companies like Microsoft, Alaska Airlines, Adaptis, Expedia and Google. Beginning in 2002, HEB offered our teens personalized strategies to help them become academically and financially prepared for higher education.
In 2000, we started the TechStart program to foster the first steps towards success for young students of color in grades K-8. TechStart students learn to use technology tools through projects-based approaches to learning. While working on projects, students learn valuable computer and communication skills, as well as other life skills such as planning, working in groups, fulfilling goals and presenting information to classrooms or groups.
By 2008, TAF completed the first phase of expansion of the TechStart program beyond Seattle to include classes in White Center and Federal Way.
Because of the outstanding success of TTIP and HEB, we felt we should and could do more to provide a rigorous education for more underserved students of color. TAF has folded TTIP and HEB into a new 6th-12th grade public school model called TAF Academy. We developed the model with generous support from the Gates Foundation.
In September 2008, we were excited to launch the first TAF Academy in Federal Way. The mission of this public school is to prepare every student for college and for life by focusing on a rigorous Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum.
TAF plans to open its second Academy in 2012 and three more Academies will open by 2015.
In 2009, TAF launched the Degrees Matter campaign to propel us into the future with three main goals:
- Improve public education
- Increase minority graduation rates
- Inspire more students to graduate college-ready for STEM related fields
Our vision? By the year 2020, TAF Academy will enroll 2,500 public school students of color each year, so that they become college-ready for STEM-related fields.
With the addition of the Teach21 program of professional development for public school teachers, we will dramtically increase our impact, reaching 20,000 students of color in Washington State public schools every year!
