SEVEN FOUNDATIONS PLEDGE $19 MILLION TO STRENGTHEN NEWARK PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS
NEWARK-BASED AND NATIONAL FOUNDATIONS FORM A PARTNERSHIP TO INCREASE OPPORTUNITY FOR NEWARK’S YOUTH
April 24, 2008 – Newark, NJ—Seven charitable foundations announce $19 million in new funds to start and support high-quality public charter schools in the city of Newark. Their collective commitment is part of a larger campaign to raise $25 million to strengthen the Newark public charter school movement.
Four national family foundations – the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Doris & Donald Fisher Fund, The Robertson Foundation, and The Walton Family Foundation – have pledged $4 million each, and their commitments will be administered through a newly established charitable entity, the Newark Charter School Fund.
In partnership with these national funders, three longstanding Newark-based foundations – the MCJ Amelior Foundation, the Prudential Foundation, and The Victoria Foundation – have earmarked $1 million each to support the initiative.
“We are pleased to see interest in Newark's public schools from leading national foundations, and we look forward to partnering with them to support the needs of Newark’s charter schools,” remarked Lata Reddy, Vice President for the Prudential Foundation. “These new philanthropic pledges build on our local efforts to support all public schools in Newark.”
This initiative is designed to extend the impact that high-performing public charter schools are having on student achievement in Newark and to support under-performing charters schools in implementing clear plans for improving student learning. Many Newark charter schools already have a track record of taking children from low income backgrounds and helping them stay in school and make dramatic gains in student achievement.
“Newark's current charter schools have an impressive track record of delivering excellent results for the city's students," explained Jim Shelton, Program Director, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "This significant philanthropic pledge by a broad mix of local and national foundations provides a unique opportunity to strengthen the local charter school movement and ultimately ensure that more young people in Newark will graduate from high school and go on to college."
The seven partnering funders will work in concert to find additional local and national foundations to pledge the $6 million needed to finalize the $25 million campaign.
“We welcome these generous national foundations to Newark, and we are grateful for the new investment from three of the city’s longstanding philanthropic partners,” Newark Mayor Cory Booker said. “This unique public-private collaboration is an historic moment in Newark’s urban renaissance, and will be a catalyst for other positive change in our public schools and in the city. We need to support and challenge our charter schools to transform the lives of our students, and high-quality charters schools should be a vital, collaborative part of our city's public school system."
Irene Cooper-Basch, Executive Officer of The Victoria Foundation, also indicated her support for the Newark Charter School Fund. "For decades, our most important area of interest has been the education of Newark's children. In recent years, we have been impressed by the accomplishments of the charter school sector in Newark, and believe this collaboration has great potential to improve public school options for Newark's neediest students."
“We are energized about the opportunity to work together as a group of local and national foundations in the best interest of Newark’s children,” added Barbara Bell Coleman, a board member of the MCJ Amelior Foundation. “We believe this initiative can be a blueprint for philanthropic partnership in other cities.”
New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine also expressed his deep appreciation for this generous investment. “It’s wonderful to see so many different individuals and organizations working together to improve public education for the children of Newark,” Governor Corzine said. “I’m proud that New Jersey is leading the way in forming new models for improving urban public schools that build on the best from both district and charter school efforts.”
Grant-making under this initiative will commence in spring 2008 and continue for a span of three to five years. Funding will focus on program areas that are most urgent for the growth and sustainability of high-quality public charter schools in Newark. These program areas will include the following: recruiting, training and retaining outstanding teachers; creating new high-quality public charter schools in Newark; supporting Newark’s under-performing charter schools in implementing improvement plans; and ensuring rigorous, long-term, and transparent evaluation of student outcomes in every charter school in the city.
The exact pace and timing of the grants will depend on the flow of promising, high-quality funding proposals. The four national foundations will manage their decision making through the Newark Charter School Fund, coordinated by the Fund’s Executive Director Stig Leschly. The Newark-based foundations involved in the campaign will make funding decisions through their regular, internal grant-making processes. Staff from all collaborating foundations will work closely together to align their grant-making decisions to best serve the needs of Newark’s charter school sector.
“This collaboration is great news for Newark’s charter schools and the city’s kids. This is really an unprecedented collaboration of local and national foundations, and it should help Newark’s charter schools thrive,” said Jessani Gordon, Executive Director of the New Jersey Public Charter School Association.
Newark-based Foundations
About The MCJ Amelior Foundation
The MCJ Amelior Foundation supports organizations that are committed to help those less fortunate by promoting harmony and understanding, furthering education and workplace skills, and improving the overall quality of life. More specifically, the foundation assists those entities that encourage mentoring relationships, are creating unique entrepreneurial opportunities, and promoting national and local participation in voluntary community programs and services. In the international arena the foundation engages in work to promote the Millennium Development Goals and halve the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, with a particular focus on ending deaths from malaria.
About The Prudential Foundation
The Prudential Foundation provides support to innovative direct-service programs that address the needs of our communities in two areas: education and economic development.
About The Victoria Foundation
Founded in 1924 by Hendon Chubb, The Victoria Foundation is one of New Jersey’s oldest private foundations. Its two-fold mission is to improve the lives of children and families in need residing in the city of Newark, New Jersey; and to protect and preserve precious open space statewide. The foundation’s primary focus is on efforts to improve educational outcomes for Newark youth, making grants intended to impact teaching and learning in the Newark public schools, as well as support for a cadre of high performing private, parochial and public charter schools.
National Foundations
About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life.
About The Robertson Foundation
The Robertson Foundation was established by Julian and Josie Robertson and their family in 1996. The Robertson Foundation is family-led, and aspires to utilize a proactive, disciplined grant-making approach to measurably affect significant social change in the principal areas of education, the environment, medical research and religion and spirituality.
About The Doris & Donald Fisher Fund
The Doris & Donald Fisher Fund promotes innovation in public schools through groundbreaking organizations such as KIPP and Teach For America.
About The Walton Family Foundation
The Walton Family Foundation pursues a philanthropic mission established by Sam and Helen Walton, which began modestly in the small town of Bentonville, Arkansas.
About The Newark Charter School Fund
The Newark Charter School Fund (NCSF) is funded and governed by the four national foundations listed above as a means for coordinating their giving to Newark’s charter school sector, and as a vehicle for collaborating with local foundations. NCSF’s small staff works closely with the local foundations involved in the project to develop recommendations for national funding in Newark.
Contact:
Steve Mancini
Newark Charter School Fund
smancini@ncsfund.org