NewSchools Venture Fund Invests $1.7 Million in Uncommon Schools
SAN FRANCISCO – January 9, 2008 – NewSchools Venture Fund today announced an investment of up to $1.7 million in Uncommon Schools (Uncommon), a nonprofit charter management organization that provides an outstanding college preparatory education for students in New York and New Jersey. Coupled with earlier grants by NewSchools, this funding will help Uncommon to build upon its initial success in closing the achievement gap in these geographies by developing more than 20 additional schools over the next ten years.
Social Purpose Capital Markets: Financial Capital for Social Entrepreneurs in Education
Like entrepreneurs in any other sector, education entrepreneurs must rely on a variety of resources in their quest for the money, people, and ideas they need to turn their vision into reality.
Opinion: The schools that Katrina built
By James A. Peyser, Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund. As seen in the Boston Globe, October 14, 2007
The flood waters that submerged New Orleans two years ago also sank the local school district. What had been a system comparable in size to Boston’s, with more than 60,000 students and 125 schools, resurfaced in the spring of 2006 at just a fraction of the size, with only 11,000 students and 26 schools.
The Greatest Education Lab
Paul Vallas, the man who took over the troubled school systems of Chicago and then Philadelphia and upended them, stood before a crowd of New Orleans parents in a French Quarter courtyard earlier this summer and offered a promise. “This will be the greatest opportunity for educational entrepreneurs, charter schools, competition and parental choice in America,” he said. Call it the silver lining: Hurricane Katrina washed away what was one of the nation’s worst school systems and opened the path for energetic reformers who want to make New Orleans a laboratory of new ideas for urban schools .
Inner City Education Foundation Receives Over $4 million To Open Four New Schools
Los Angeles, CA — August 16, 2007 — The Inner City Education Foundation (ICEF) announced today that it has received three grants totaling close to $4.2 million, which will enable it to open four much-needed charter schools in South Los Angeles this fall. The contributions include up to $1.8 million from NewSchools Venture Fund, $1.45 million from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and $920,000 from the Walton Family Foundation.
Envisioning New Public Education Systems for the 21st Century: A Report on the Eighth Annual NewSchools Summit
Each year, the NewSchools Summit provides entrepreneurs, educators, policymakers and philanthropic leaders with a venue to share promising practices and tackle common challenges.
The Broad Foundation Awards $5 Million to NewSchools Venture Fund
SAN FRANCISCO – May 21, 2007 — NewSchools Venture Fund announced today that they have been awarded a new $5 million grant from The Broad Foundation. The funds will be used by NewSchools to continue to effect dramatic change in public education – particularly in urban areas where public school students have historically been underserved – by investing in public charter school management organizations and other entrepreneurial ventures working to increase the number and quality of public charter schools nationwide.
Aspen Institute and NewSchools Venture Fund Name First Class of Fellows in Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education Program
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — May 24, 2007—The Aspen Institute and NewSchools Venture Fund today launched the Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education Fellowship Program with the announcement of its inaugural class of Fellows from across the country. The program is designed to recognize and support a new generation of entrepreneurial leaders prepared to address the crucial challenge of transforming public education.
New Leadership Vows to Make New Orleans Schools a Model
NEW ORLEANS, LA – May 9, 2007 – Days after being tapped to head this city’s state-run schools, Paul G. Vallas pledged here at an elite national gathering of education leaders, funders, and entrepreneurs to help spearhead an effort to make the hurricane-ravaged system a model of both choice and accountability.
National Education Summit in New Orleans Addresses School Reform Strategies
NEW ORLEANS, LA – May 7, 2007 – New Leaders for New Schools, a nonprofit organization that recruits and trains outstanding principals and supports their schools in order to boost academic achievement and transform urban public schools, and NewSchools Venture Fund, a nonprofit venture philanthropy firm focused on transforming public education by supporting education entrepreneurs and connecting their work to systems change, today announced the convening of their 2007 National Summit in New Orleans, Louisiana. The four-day Summit, which began on Saturday with remarks by U.S.