New community partnerships, grants highlight memorable 2024 for CWU

During the past year, Central Washington University has been forging a series of strategic partnerships that will help shape the short- and long-term future of the institution and the communities we serve.

By developing relationships with businesses and organizations at the local, state, and federal levels — and positioning ourselves strategically for future growth and innovation — CWU has been the beneficiary of more than $3.5 million in one-time grants and multi-year financial commitments during the 2024 calendar year.

These recent funding packages range from $150,000 for a multi-agency guaranteed admissions program to $770,000 to help CWU rebuild our mental health counseling graduate program. We were also awarded two significant grants from the Washington State Department of Commerce to enhance our solar power infrastructure. The department also awarded CWU a Project Improvement Grant worth nearly $1 million that will help us develop our geothermal power infrastructure.

Working alongside partners such as the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC), Lumina Foundation, Comprehensive Healthcare, and the National Science Foundation, CWU has positioned ourselves effectively to meet the needs of the ever-changing higher education landscape.

Some of the notable partnerships and grants CWU has received over the past year include:

• Lumina Foundation awarded $150,000 to CWU and Educational Service District 105 as part of its Great Admissions Redesign Grant Program. The partnership with WSAC will help create proactive admissions process that integrates financial aid eligibility for the following school districts in Central Washington.
• Lumina Foundation awarded $250,000 to CWU, WSAC, and Sandbox Inc. for the Changing the Narrative pilot project, which will leverage the three partners’ multidisciplinary expertise to create evidence-informed, interactive digital media tools designed to test news ways of fostering a college-going culture in Washington.
• CWU, the Yakima School District, and Yakima Valley College entered into a historic partnership this fall with a goal of developing a system that offers integrated, seamless and guaranteed pathways for high school students to earn postsecondary credentials.
• The College of Education and Professional Studies (CEPS) is hoping to make an even greater impact on the state’s construction industry with the help of $160,000 in Career Launch enrollment funding from Career Connect Washington.
• CWU’s Climate Action Plan received a pair of grants last summer from the Washington State Department of Commerce totaling nearly $1 million combined. The grants, funded by Washington’s Climate Commitment Act (CCA) include $473,467 to install a 100-kilowatt solar system on the roof of Dugmore Hall, and an additional $451,642 to conduct a large-scale solar study for the Ellensburg campus.
• The state Department of Commerce awarded CWU a $970,834 Project Improvement Grant over the summer to build on a planned upgrade of an air handler in preparation for future conversion to geothermal. The enhancements funded by this grant introduce an ultra-efficient flooded heat exchanger operating on steam until the final geothermal step is implemented.
• Comprehensive Healthcare announced last spring that it will gift nearly $770,000 to the CWU Foundation to reestablish the CWU Mental Health Counseling (MHC) graduate program, enabling the university to prepare master’s-level candidates for graduation — and for work in the community — as early as 2026. The gift will provide a two-year launch of programmatic staff who will design and implement curriculum. 
• CWU Business and Community Services (BCS) learned this fall that it was accepted for a $400,000 Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) grant from the National Science Foundation. The university’s recently launched economic development organization continues to build new relationships across the region, which are expected to result in additional public and private investments in 2025 and beyond.

This impressive collection of recent funding awards is entirely separate from the significant financial support CWU received in the 2024 legislative session, when we secured $16.5 million for additional geothermal power infrastructure and $4.5 million for additional clean energy projects on the Ellensburg campus.

State lawmakers also approved $398,000 in ongoing annual funding to help CWU support staffing for student basic needs at PATH (Prevention, Advocacy, Training, and Healing), the Wildcat Pantry, and in the Financial Aid office.

CWU’s successful 2024 legislative session came on the heels of another banner year in 2023, when we were awarded nearly $100 million to build the North Academic Complex (NAC) and another $6 million to create a Multicultural Center (MCC) on the Ellensburg campus. Work on the NAC and MCC projects is ongoing and both spaces are expected to open in 2026.