Shared Impact

Building 21 is reimagining education to meet the needs of all learners through two non-criteria public high schools in Pennsylvania, an international Learning Innovation Network, and a postsecondary pathway called Launchpad in Philadelphia. We have supported Building 21, along with Workshop School and the U School — all competency-based, project-based learning models steeped in racial justice and trauma-informed approaches in the Philadelphia School District — to collaborate on ways to amplify their innovative models.

Sharif El-Mekki founded The Center for Black Educator Development to dramatically increase the number of Black educators nationwide, ensuring that students have diverse teacher representation throughout their time in school. One of two original funders, we have worked alongside Sharif and his organization to help secure millions in additional funding. We continue to champion the Center as they scale their impact and reach.

Neighborhood Villages is working to realize a future in which all families have access to affordable, high-quality early childhood education. Through deep partnership with five early learning centers in Boston, Neighborhood Villages pilots and tests programs to transform the early childhood education delivery system, and advocates to scale innovations statewide through public investment and policy.  They have successfully scaled multiple programs, including a debt-free college pathway program to support early educators in attaining teacher credentials, a business management training program for early education administrators, and a unique cost-free apprenticeship model to build a more diverse field of early childhood education leaders. In partnership with Boston Public Schools, they developed an innovative, play-based curriculum for three-year-olds and are collaborating with educators, families, and providers to design an aligned curriculum for toddlers.

PA Humanities champions the humanities as a means to spark civic engagement, build community, educate, inspire, and make long-lasting change. We are supporting PA Humanities to run an Emergent Strategy Grantmaking program that will provide funding and a robust learning community for equity-focused organizations across the state who are using the humanities to create thriving, inclusive relationships with the communities they serve.

Tiny WPA places youth and adults at the forefront of stimulating community engagement and civic innovation in Philadelphia by empowering them to design and build improvements to the public spaces, schools and micro-infrastructure in their neighborhoods. Through deep community partnership, Tiny WPA has grown and supported a diverse multigenerational community of civic change agents known as Building Heroes—who want to learn how to design-build great things, make a difference in their community(s), and through design lead others in making Philadelphia a better, safer, healthier, more equitable, and prosperous place to live, work and play.

The Trust for Learning is a philanthropic partnership supporting the expansion of publicly-funded early childhood programs aligned with the principles of ideal learning environments. Grounded in a deep commitment to racial equity and inclusion, the Trust engages in movement building, thought leadership, and direct investments. Through their Head Start Network, they support partners across the country to transition their Head Start, early Head Start, and Public Pre-K programs to ideal learning approaches.