By Julia Park for South Seattle Emerald · May 01, 2024
It's one of several events that hinge on money raised through the Move-A-Thon, a collective fundraiser hosted across 17 participating schools and led by the Southeast Seattle Schools Fundraising Alliance (SESSFA). The Move-A-Thon...

By Venice Buhain for Cascade PBS · June 28, 2023
The gym at Wing Luke Elementary School saw wall-to-wall activity one early spring evening. Dozens of kids from Wing Luke and Rising Star elementary schools and their parents stacked cups, jumped ropes and worked out their legs with wall-sits, checking off their progress on bingo boards filled with activities...

By Meghan Bedell for Seattle's Child · Nov 6, 2023
The Southeast Seattle Schools Fundraising Alliance (SESSFA) supports one big and bold idea: that school PTAs should raise funds together and distribute them equitably based on demographics. In doing that, the Alliance is helping improve students’ lives in 17 schools in the south end of the city...

By Ashley Nerbovig for The Stranger · Oct 12, 2023
At a meeting yesterday evening, the Seattle School Board of Directors introduced proposed budget policies for Seattle Public Schools as part of the board’s work to establish expectations under its new governance model...

By Clare McGrane / Patricia Murphy for KUOW · Apr 21, 2023
Teacher JC Fretz likes to ask his fourth graders at Seattle’s Emerson Elementary about their thoughts on PTA funds. That might seem like a rather boring question for 9-year-olds, but Fretz says his students have opinions. In fact, they have one particular priority — snacks...

By Ben Adlin for South Seattle Emerald · Mar 15, 2023
For almost three years now, parents and teachers representing more than a dozen Southeast Seattle schools have been meeting regularly to discuss the pernicious problem of PTA fundraising, all while planning one of the biggest fundraisers their schools have ever seen.

National Museum of American History · Spring 2022 
With gratitude: In the Spring of 2022, The National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian reached out to us to ask if we could submit relics for their Giving in America exhbit. We have officially gifted two copies of the 2022 Move a thon Bingo Board (so that both the front and back can be displayed) as well as a water bottle from the 2021 year. We will be featured soon on this site, and live in Washington DC. We are honored to be recognized nationally for our work.

By Paige Browning for KUOW · May 12, 2022
Families are holding a 'move-a-thon' in Southeast Seattle all week to work on a big gap in public schools: Parent Teacher Association funding. The 15 schools involved receive, on average, much less PTA funding than in Seattle's wealthiest neighborhoods. This fundraiser aims to bring more financial equity to the students.

By Ben Adlin for South Seattle Emerald · May 13, 2022
When parents and teachers from a dozen southeast Seattle elementary schools introduced an experimental fundraiser last year, the goal wasn't merely to raise money for education but also to challenge the very practice of PTA fundraising. This year, even more South End schools and community groups are uniting behind the event and its growing emphasis on equity.

By Ben Adlin for South Seattle Emerald · May 28, 2021
All across Southeast Seattle this week, elementary students have been hopping, dancing, stretching, and occasionally even crab-walking as part of a fundraiser for local schools. What makes the event unique, however, is how the money will be divided: For the first time, participating schools will pool the proceeds and share in them equally.

By Neal Morton for South Seattle Emerald · Jun 14, 2021
In 2013, families at a Seattle high school raked in more than $100,000 for a raffle to win a Tesla Model S. The year before, the parent teacher association at Garfield High School cleared $40,000 in raffle tickets for a Nissan Leaf. Other schools in this tech-boom city rely on lavish galas to raise as much as $422,000 in a single night, and some spend almost as much as they haul in.

By  Chris Cashman for King 5 News · Jun 14, 2021
The third annual Southeast Seattle Schools Fundraising Alliance's move-a-thon is underway to raise money for 17 elementary, K-8 and middle schools.Each school put its own twist on the fun but it’s all about getting active and having fun to support more than 7,000 students in District 7 of Seattle Public Schools.