Like blindness to sight, literacy changes everything.
Literacy. Self-Reliance. Leadership.
Literacy first
English with trilingual teachers
Community-led
Co-designed with Afghan women
Valuable partnerships
Foundations, government and civic orgs
501(c)(3) nonprofit
Tax-deductible donations
Our Mission
Building Bridges to participation
Bridging a critical services and skills gap by providing pathways to community participation for WA’s large Afghan ally population with distinct and compounding challenges.
Community-led by Afghan women educators for Afghan women and girls with limited English or formal education in their native languages. When women gain functional literacy, entire families move forward.
Why we do this work
Why Afghan Women?
Imagine being denied education in your own language, then having to navigate life in a new country, culture and language.
Washington state has one of the largest Afghan communities in the U.S., estimated to be ~25K.
Afghanistan ranks last globally on women's human rights and has the world’s lowest female literacy rate (~22%).
Access to formal education is severely limited due to systemic gender exclusion, war, poverty, displacement, and prolonged social isolation.
Our work
Three programs.
One continuous path.
Our three connected programs offer a neighborhood-based learning continuum, moving women from isolation to participation and from literacy to leadership. These programs extend beyond an ESL class.
Four levels of pre-ESL level 1 phonics-based English/cultural literacy classes, team taught by English/Dari/Pashto native speakers.
- 50% never attended school
- 89% mastery; graduates enroll in ESL 1
- 100% mobile/hybrid program
Monthly field trips & online workshops & resources help newcomers navigate their community.
- Real-world life-skills coaching
- Education and employment exploration
- Skills for shopping, appointments, transportation, etc.
Develops leaders, mentors and change makers.
- Professional development and job opportunities
- Locally-developed leadership pipeline
- Community organizers and advocates
By the numbers
Small budget Outsized impact.
Fueled by grassroots support, volunteers, and a modest budget — AA+ proves that community partnerships change lives. Every gift is traceable to a program and a person.
Our Successes
Our impact speaks for itself.
Success looks different for every woman. In their own words
LATEST UPDATES
Stories From The Field
Real stories from our classrooms, field trips, and community.
See AA+ in action
Watch the work unfold.
Meet our teachers and students talking about the important work we do and browse our YouTube Channel to see the content we create to support everyday life skills and our literacy classes.
More from our channel
Compass Connection · 4 min
Compass Connection · 2 min
Join us
Empower women, transform communities.
Our long waitlist reflects a rapidly growing demand for services; your support enables us to reach more Afghan women—eager to learn, build confidence, and create better futures for themselves and their families.
- 501(c)(3) · Tax-deductible
- Volunteer &/or donate
Partnerships
We work with partners large and small, with full transparency and shared accountability.
Partner with us Shona ba Shona - Shoulder to Shoulder
Stay connected
Stories, impact updates, and ways to help — in your inbox.
Brief updates from the field
- We never share your address.