Education Initiative

When people learn in environments that teach and effectively respond to the needs of all students and learners, communities thrive. Unfortunately, systemic injustice causes an unequal distribution of financial and educational resources, creating a gap between racial and economic groups in opportunity and achievement. At the Fund, we established the Education Initiative to build relationships with community partners to develop strategies and programs that shift policies to a more equitable state. We partner with BIPOC-led grassroots community-based organizations (CBOs) and groups most impacted by educational injustices to examine and address root causes of racial inequities from birth and through adult education.

The work of the initiative is holistic and comprehensive, covering these subsets of education:

Prenatal to Early Childhood Development

The Fund is strengthening relationships with childhood development partners to improve the funding landscape and co-design evaluations to advance policies and programs that support families, parents, and caregivers to center development for infants.

The School-to-Prison and Deportation-Pipeline

Our partners are examining existing systems and researching avenues of change, including policy advocacy to support foster youth, initiatives to protect those impacted by gender-based violence, and uplifting punitive policies.

Community Wellness and Safety Education that Liberates

The Fund is working to co-design education programs with survivors of violence of the criminal legal system to center wellness, safety, and healing as a response and resistance to racial injustice.

Equity in education narrows the achievement gap and creates healthier communities. Like all Fund initiatives, our goal is to have a lasting impact through the relationships developed with each CBO. We know the lessons we learn from these organizations will positively inform future capacity and power-building initiatives in our regions.