And, if you think so, too…we should be talking. NewSchools invests in the most creative ideas and supports visionary leaders with the potential to reshape the learning experience to help every student reach his or her highest aspirations. That’s why today we are announcing nearly $7 million in funding opportunities across our three investment areas.
About a year and a half ago, NewSchools launched a new investment strategy. Our mission has remained the same since our founding: to reimagine public education so all children have the opportunity to succeed – especially Black, Latino and low-income students who have been traditionally underserved.
However, we have evolved over time to find different ways of accomplishing that mission, while ensuring our role remains constant. As always, we find, fund, and support the most promising entrepreneurs and teams of educators, and help them accomplish outstanding results for students. When thinking about how to make the biggest impact over the next few years, we were inspired by the growing momentum to reimagine schools so they work better for every student. In order to strengthen and accelerate these efforts, we are now focused on three investment areas:
- Creating innovative schools;
- Building tools and services to better support student learning; and
- Cultivating pipelines of diverse leaders in education
Why these three areas? Because all over the country, teams of educators are reimagining how school works and they need funding, support, and connections. Entrepreneurs are already creating lots of edtech tools, but we can play an important role by highlighting areas in need of more innovation. And a new generation of diverse founders and leaders is emerging who have shared experiences with the students they serve and a commitment to work more closely with families and communities to reimagine learning.
Since we launched the new strategy last year, NewSchools has made 65 investments across these three areas. We helped teams of educators plan and/or launch 25 innovative schools. We’ve supported 30 promising edtech companies, and have funded 10 organizations dedicated to creating pipelines of diverse leaders.
If you or someone you know is a leader, educator, creator, or entrepreneur with a great idea for reimagining learning, we want to know more. Visit our website to learn more about the timing for each opportunity.
