Why I Am Pulling for the Palouse and What It Will Take to Move Families Out of Poverty

I am stepping into the role of CEO at United Way of the Palouse because I believe deeply in the people and institutions that make this region what it is, and because I believe we can do more together.

My career has taken me through higher education, workforce development, public policy, strategic planning, and community partnership work. In each setting, I have seen the same basic truth: a person’s opportunity is shaped by many systems at once.

Schools matter. Colleges matter. Employers matter. Local government, nonprofits, workforce agencies, and social services matter. Families and the people closest to these systems matter most of all.

The question is whether those systems are working in parallel or in concert.

That is what draws me to this role. United Way of the Palouse sits at the intersection of the organizations that influence whether people can find stability, pursue education, secure meaningful work, and build a better future. I am eager to serve this region, but I also know what I do not yet know.

I intend to listen first. I intend to learn from the people who live and work here. And I intend to stay engaged long enough to help turn shared priorities into sustained progress.

The region is making progress, and still under pressure

The Palouse is not a story of failure. It is a story of meaningful progress alongside real strain.

According to U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, using 2020–2024 data in 2024 dollars, Latah County, Idaho has a median household income of $65,424 and a poverty rate of 17.3 percent. Whitman County, Washington has a median household income of $55,406 and a poverty rate of 23.0 percent.

Those figures should be read with honesty. Both counties carry poverty rates meaningfully above where a thriving region should be, and Whitman County’s median household income is notably lower, a statistic shaped in important part by the area’s large student population. That is a real feature of the region, not something to hide.

At the same time, the Palouse Regional Housing Assessment reports that approximately 37 percent of households across Latah and Whitman counties are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, and renters are the most affected.

City housing needs forecasts add another clear signal of pressure. Moscow needs roughly 1,694 additional housing units and Pullman roughly 706 over the next five years to meet projected demand.

That is the tension we need to hold honestly: the region is not in decline, and it is not solved. Incomes and opportunity coexist with cost burden, and the honest picture is that housing strain is widespread and renters are the most affected.

Progress and pressure can exist at the same time.

The work ahead is not about dismissing what has improved. It is about making sure that improvement reaches more families and becomes durable enough to withstand the pressures that remain.

Economic mobility is a regional responsibility

Poverty is not overcome by one program or one organization.

A school district can help a student build a strong foundation, but it cannot solve housing affordability on its own. A college can provide an excellent credential, but it cannot guarantee that a student has transportation, child care, reliable food, or the guidance needed to complete the program. An employer can offer a job, but employers also need talent pipelines that connect to the people who live in the community.

Nonprofits often help families navigate immediate needs. Local governments shape policies and investments. Workforce organizations connect people to training and employment. Colleges and universities create pathways to credentials and careers.

All of these contributions matter. None is sufficient by itself.

In the Palouse, that means recognizing a region that stretches across two states — Idaho and Washington — and still functions as one interconnected civic and economic community.

This is why I believe the regional partnership, not the individual program, is the unit of change.

The research from Opportunity Insights, by Raj Chetty, John Friedman, Emmanuel Saez, Nicholas Turner, and Danny Yagan, gives us a useful way to think about the role of colleges in mobility. A college’s upward mobility rate is the product of access and success: how many students come from families in the bottom fifth of the income distribution, multiplied by how many of those students reach the top fifth as adults.

The study found that students from low- and high-income families at the same college often have very similar earnings outcomes. At Columbia, for example, about 60 percent of students reach the top fifth, whether they came from low- or high-income families.

The difference among colleges, then, is often not simply whether they help students succeed. It is whether they enroll the students who need that opportunity most.

At SUNY–Stony Brook, 16 percent of students came from the bottom fifth, and 51 percent of those students reached the top fifth. The researchers found that the highest-mobility colleges were often mid-tier public institutions with substantial access for low-income students and strong outcomes.

The local lesson is straightforward: selectivity is not the point. How many students an institution enrolls, and how well those students do, is the point.

In the Palouse, the University of Idaho in Moscow and Washington State University in Pullman are the region’s two land-grant anchors. The Palouse’s economic identity, including advanced manufacturing and technology employers that draw on university-trained talent, depends on the connection between those institutions and the people who already live in Latah and Whitman counties.

Those universities have an essential role to play in economic mobility. So do the employers, school districts, nonprofit organizations, and public agencies that help students reach and complete those pathways.

Education must lead somewhere

The Strada Education Foundation’s 2025 State Opportunity Index gives us another important lens. The Index measures five keys to connecting education with opportunity: Clear Outcomes, Quality Coaching, Affordability, Work-Based Learning, and Employer Alignment.

Nationally, about 70 percent of public college graduates are likely to see a positive return on investment within 10 years.

That does not mean education is failing. It means we have work to do to make the connection between education and economic opportunity more reliable.

Strada also reports that no state is Leading in Employer Alignment overall, and only California, Rhode Island, and Utah are Advanced. The most common talent gaps are in finance and accounting, health care technicians and technologists, manufacturing and trades technicians and technologists, and nursing.

The sharpest point for me is the finding on quality coaching. No state is Leading or Advanced for four-year institutions, while 15 of 25 states are Advanced at two-year institutions. Students most often receive support setting goals and overcoming obstacles, but they are much less likely to receive timely information about labor market opportunities. Strada reports that 70 percent of students at four-year institutions and 74 percent at two-year institutions get support setting goals, while 73 percent and 74 percent receive support overcoming obstacles. But only 21 percent of students at four-year institutions and 33 percent at two-year institutions receive timely labor market information.

Young people can be supported and still not be told where the jobs are.

That is fixable.

Strada also reports that Work-Based Learning remains one of the five central keys to opportunity, and the broader lesson is clear: education becomes more powerful when students can connect learning to real work, real wages, and real pathways forward.

For community college students, the design of these opportunities matters. In “Employer and Community College Partnerships,” Melissa Leavitt of Strada Education Foundation notes that less than half of community college students who completed internships were paid or received college credit, compared with almost three-quarters of students at four-year institutions. Yet 86 percent of community college students found their work-based learning valuable career preparation, compared with 62 percent of students at four-year institutions.

Paid, credit-bearing work-based learning is both the equitable design and the effective design.

A credential should lead to a wage. A program should connect to real opportunity. And a student should not have to choose between gaining experience and meeting basic needs.

What I believe we must do

As I begin this work, these are the commitments I will bring to the table.

1. Lead with data, and publish what we learn

We need a shared understanding of where people are entering systems, where they are getting stuck, and what outcomes follow. That means using data across education, workforce, housing, and human services, and making progress visible.

Data should support better decisions, not simply better presentations.

2. Treat lived experience as expertise

People who have navigated poverty, education, housing, employment, and public systems understand barriers that institutions may miss. Their experience should shape priorities, program design, and measures of success.

They should not be invited only to tell their stories after decisions have already been made.

3. Invest in what happens before and after the program

Enrollment is not completion. Completion is not employment. Employment is not economic mobility.

Families need navigation, basic supports, follow-through, and relationships that continue across transitions. We need to make it easier for people to understand their options and stay connected to the help they need.

4. Align education with employers and labor demand

The University of Idaho, Washington State University, workforce organizations, and employers need regular, honest conversations about the skills and occupations that matter in this region.

That includes paid and credit-bearing work-based learning, employer-informed programs, clear information about wages and career pathways, and credentials that lead to real opportunity.

5. Build structures that survive leadership changes

Good work should not depend on one champion or one grant period. We need shared goals, clear roles, dedicated relationship owners, regular communication, and durable agreements among partners.

The work must be institutionalized so it can continue when leaders change.

6. Be accountable for outcomes

We should measure more than activity. We should ask whether people are completing programs, finding quality work, increasing their earnings, remaining housed, and experiencing greater stability.

Some outcomes are difficult to measure. That is not a reason to ignore them. It is a reason to improve how we listen, learn, and report progress.

I am ready to serve this region

I am pulling for the Palouse because I see strong institutions, committed leaders, capable nonprofits, engaged employers, and people who care deeply about the future of their communities.

I see opportunities to continue building an even stronger foundation and future for the region.

I am eager to serve the people of Latah and Whitman counties through United Way of the Palouse. I want to listen, convene, learn, and help elevate economic mobility across the region, not through one initiative, but through sustained cooperation among the people and organizations already doing this work.

If you are part of this effort, I hope you will reach out to United Way of the Palouse. I look forward to meeting you.