The Fund for Education Success (FES)

FOR STUDENTS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS, CHILD WELFARE, AND JUVENILE JUSTICE

This workgroup is operating in partnership with the Youth Transition Funders Group.

Context

As foundations whose work focuses on improving educational outcomes for marginalized students, we understand that homelessness, child welfare, and juvenile justice are adverse experiences that impact but do not define young people.

Photos credit: All4Ed.org / license

Unfortunately, our public systems currently are comprised of programs that often operate in silos and fail to recognize and address the intersectionality of students’ lives. While these students often share similar and overlapping experiences, the public agencies and programs serving them often do not interact or partner to address these students’ needs holistically.

Philanthropic foundations working in partnership with public systems are uniquely positioned to support systems integration and improve service coordination and delivery for this population of vulnerable students.

About

The Fund for Education Success (FES) is a novel philanthropic collaboration that makes strategic investments in work aimed at improving educational and life outcomes for highly mobile students, including those experiencing homelessness, child welfare, and juvenile justice. FES is anchored by the Raikes, Stuart, and Walter S. Johnson Foundations.

Strategic Purpose

FES aims to leverage its grantmaking to elevate FES student populations as a priority at the federal, state, and local levels to:

  • Funding: Identify promising practices to increase funding available to support FES student populations (whether new, reallocated, or targeted universal)
  • Policy: Strengthen policy that addresses the educational and related needs of FES student populations
  • Practice: Identify and elevate practices that show evidence of improving educational outcomes for FES student populations Intersectional impact: Identify and elevate cross-cutting funding, policy, and practice leverage points that provide benefit across all FES student populations

Members

  • Raikes Foundation*
  • Stuart Foundation*
  • Walter S. Johnson Foundation

*Steering Committee member 

Grantees

FES grantees include: 

Grantmaking Pillar 1: Federal (Inside)/National (Outside) Engagement

Investment Priorities

  • Fund subject matter experts (SMEs) within the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to focus on FES student populations
  • Fund national field builders to advance a shared agenda related to FES student populations

Investment Objectives

  • Increase federal capacity to address the needs of FES student populations
  • Influence federal policies and priorities
  • Facilitate bidirectional communication between ED and the field regarding federal direction and field evolution
  • Increase national field leader capacity to support individual and intersectional work across FES student populations
  • Advance a shared agenda to increase the amount and quality of resources in support of FES student populations

Grants (Past and Current)

  • Treehouse: Fund full-time ED SME (inside) focused on foster care and education
  • American Bar Association: Fund (outside) consultation with and support of ED SME
  • SchoolHouse Connection:
    • Fund full-time ED SME (inside) focused on homeless education
    • Fund (outside) consultation with and support of ED SME

Grantmaking Pillar 2: Learning and Knowledge Building

Investment Priorities

  • Fund innovative research on educational and life challenges and outcomes for FES student populations

Investment Objectives

  • Understand the common and distinct experiences of FES student populations
  • Uplift models and strategies producing positive educational and other life outcomes for FES student populations
  • Leverage research findings to inform funding, policy, and practice at the national, state, and local levels to improve cross-systems integration and resource coordination in support of FES student populations
  • Support convenings of stakeholders across FES student populations to facilitate learning and partnership

Grants (Past and Current)

  • UCLA and WestEd: Fund research to understand the educational needs and experiential patterns of FES student populations; uplift models that are most effective at serving these students; and inform funding, policy, and practice priorities in support of FES student populations
  • SchoolHouse and Maddy Day LLC and Associates: Fund research and a companion report highlighting the arc of federal and state policies that support higher education success for students experiencing homelessness and/or foster care

Grantmaking Pillar 3: Casemaking and Brightspotting

Investment Priorities

  • Fund innovative models and strategies in support of FES student populations at the national, state, and/or local levels

Investment Objectives

  • Pilot innovative program models or service strategies that may improve educational and life outcomes for FES student populations
  • Elevate effective program models or service strategies that can be brought to scale by national, state, and/or local public systems and through public-private partnerships

Grants (Past and Current)

  • Project Education Impact (PEI): Fund the ongoing work of PEI in Washington to develop stronger cross-systems collaboration across public and private partners supporting FES student populations and improve educational equity between these students and their general student population peers
  • Public Works Alliance: Fund the design and implementation of school-community partnerships in California and Washington  utilizing Title IV-E and Medicaid funding for school-based prevention and wraparound services for FES student populations

More Information

For more information, contact Christina Dukes.

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