Achievement First, a nonprofit charter school management organization, operates six high-performing K-12 public schools in Connecticut. It was founded in 2003 by the leaders of Amistad Academy, a nationally acclaimed charter school in New Haven, Conn. The mission of Achievement First is to deliver on the promise of equal educational opportunity for all of America’s children. Amistad Academy was recently named Connecticut’s Title I Distinguished School of the Year after achieving the greatest middle school performance gains statewide. Under its long-term growth plan, Achievement First will increase its presence to fifteen Connecticut schools in the next ten years.
Founded in 1999 on the belief that all children deserve access to high-quality early learning opportunities, All Our Kin’s programs are designed to increase the accessibility, affordability, and quality of child care. Each year, All Our Kin reaches over 250 parents and educators in greater New Haven, Conn., who in turn serve over 1,200 children.
All Our Kin runs three programs. The Intensive program trains parents to be family child care providers while they work one-on-one with their own children in All Our Kin’s on-site lab school. The Toolkit Licensing Project helps unlicensed family child care providers meet health and safety standards, navigate the state licensing process, and become part of a professional community of child care providers. Finally, the Family Child Care Network expands the educational and professional development opportunities for family care providers in the community.
FSW (formerly Family Services Woodfield) is a Bridgeport, Conn.-based nonprofit with over 157 years experience serving individuals and families. The Shumway Capital Foundation supports FSW’s Asset Building Division. Through this division, FSW helps families change negative consumer behaviors and build on their personal strengths, which are considered assets, to achieve goals for long-term financial and mental health security. Programs include literacy training, after school activities, financial education, homelessness prevention, tax preparation, job training, and an entrepreneurial training workshop. In addition to its Asset Building Division, FSW’s other programs include HIV services, deaf services, Meals on Wheels, behavioral health services, adult day care, and senior services.
REACH Prep prepares minority fourth grade students from low-income families to succeed in the most competitive preparatory and independent schools in Connecticut and New York. The program includes a 15-month intensive academic instruction, leadership training, summer programs, and family services. All REACH Prep programs are offered free of charge to participating families, and are funded entirely through foundation grants and donor contributions. REACH Prep’s involvement in the lives of its students extends to the college preparation process and beyond, ensuring that these highly motivated individuals have the support to realize their full academic, artistic, and athletic potential.
Teach for America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit two years to teaching in urban and rural public schools in our nation’s lowest-income communities. Teach for America alumni become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity.
Teach for America has 26 sites across the country and an overall network of more than 17,000 corps members and alumni, who have directly impacted the lives of nearly 3 million students.
