Resources

The 15 Characteristics that Matter Most: A Self-Reflection for Funders Pursuing Place-based Investing

Place-based investing (PBI) is a powerful philanthropic strategy to catalyze substantive social change in communities. In this brief, funders are introduced to the characteristics of their organizations that matter most to the success of place-based investments. The characteristics are evident in a funding organization’s internal structures, culture, and norms; their interplay can support or hinder place-based strategies and efforts to center communities.

The brief includes a four-stage discussion guide for funding teams and staff to reflect on the characteristics of their own organizations. The guide provides a sequence for internal conversations to uncover and begin to align organizational dynamics with effective place-based investments.

America After 3PM

For years, afterschool programs have kept kids safe, inspired them to learn, and helped working families. America After 3PM—the largest survey on afterschool, spanning 16 years—found that unmet demand has skyrocketed. For every child in an afterschool program, 3 are waiting to get in.

Demand remains strong during the pandemic, as parents see programs providing critical supports.

A Broken Pipeline: Teacher Preparation's Diversity Problem

Closing the teacher diversity gap is one of the most important steps we can take to make public education more equitable. But as many school systems across the country have prioritized the issue, one institution has largely escaped scrutiny: teacher preparation programs.

In this report, we use data from the U.S. Department of Education to compare the demographics of each state's teacher preparation program enrollees to that of public school students to calculate a "teacher prep diversity gap." We also highlight individual teacher preparation programs that are--and are not--recruiting enough teahcers of color to match student demographics in their states.

Districts Advancing Racial Equity (DARE) Tool

The Districts Advancing Racial Equity (DARE) tool provides information about evidence-based, high-leverage aspects of schooling that school leaders can use to create systems that build on the strengths of and respond to the needs of students of color. DARE synthesizes what we know about district actions that can support racial equity and provides a guide for district leaders to investigate their systems, set equity-oriented goals, and track progress over time. It includes a framework for district leaders and staff to understand the complex ecosystem of policies and practices they design and enact. The tool also contains a set of qualitative and quantitative indicators to support data-informed decision-making and track progress toward greater racial equity.

Systems Change & Parent Power

We will never achieve the scale of change we want in education philanthropy unless we are willing to take on systems change, which requires changing mindsets, relationships and power to, in turn, change policies, practices and resource flows in education. And we’ll never succeed at systems change unless we are willing to wrestle with our biases towards parents and communities, support them in developing and exercising their innate power, and recognize that they need to drive the agenda.

This essay shares our work-in-progress journey on this, as well as the wisdom and guidance parent leaders in education have shared with us on how we work to earn a trusted, credible role with them.

Embracing The Next Stage Of Education Philanthropy