ED Group Partners with Bezos Family Foundation Program Students Rebuild to Catalyze Educational Change for Black and Latinx Youth
$200K investment will strengthen new efforts to eliminate racial disparities in education
For Immediate Distribution: March 9, 2021
Contact: Sharon Han, 213-694-3352, mshan@rabengroup.com
LOS ANGELES — Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC) has partnered with the Bezos Family Foundation to bolster Black and Latinx-led efforts to improve school and life outcomes for children of color across the country. The partnership injects $200,000 through the foundation’s Students Rebuild Changemaker Challenge, into EdLoC programs supporting the development or expansion of solutions to some of the most urgent challenges keeping Black and Brown children from realizing their full potential.
Sharhonda Bossier, EdLoC’s CEO, said, “we are thrilled to be among six organizations chosen for the Students Rebuild Changemaker Challenge this year. Through Students Rebuild, the Bezos Family Foundation has reaffirmed its commitment to Black and Latinx-led change in education for the benefit of Black and Brown children across the nation who have been disproportionately impacted by the challenges of learning amid a pandemic. This new gift makes it possible for EdLoC to double-down on our support of solutions in education that will end generational poverty and holistically address persistent barriers to success in school for Black and Latinx kids.”
EdLoC is a national membership network with a mission to break through the polarizing divides that have consumed efforts to improve public education for too long. The Students Rebuild Changemaker Challenge grants help enable that mission by funneling additional investment in ten exemplary EdLoC members who previously won grants through the organization’s multi-million dollar Boulder Fund, created to support the innovations of leaders of color in education.
“This year, Students Rebuild is celebrating educators and students making change in their communities,” Students Rebuild Senior Manager Leonetta Elaiho said. “Given EdLoC’s commitment to championing and supporting diverse leaders who address educational inequities, we couldn’t be more thrilled to support their work and ultimately the students they serve.”
The following leaders will receive additional support for their work through the Changemaker Challenge:
Kiara Butler, CEO & Founder, Diversity Talks
Charles Cole, Founder & Executive Director, Energy Convertors
Marla Dean, CEO, Bright Beginnings
Sharif El-Mekki, CEO & Founder, The Center for Black Educator Development
David Johns, Executive Director, National Black Justice Coalition
Reyna Montoya, CEO & Founder, Aliento
Veronica Palmer, Co-Founder & CEO, RISE Colorado
Marvin Pierre, Founder & Executive Director, Eight Million Stories
Margeaux Randolph, Founder, The Los Angeles School of Creativity and Technology (C-Tech)
Cynthia Robinson-Rivers, Founding Head of School, Van Ness Elementary School
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About EdLoC:
Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC) is a community of more than 400 leaders of color working to elevate the leadership, voices, and influence of people of color in education and to leading more inclusive efforts to improve education. EdLoC aims to advance a third way that breaks through the polarizing divides that have consumed efforts to improve public education and to forge the alliances needed to realize and sustain EdLoC’s vision of providing low-income children of color expansive and substantive opportunities for the highest levels of academic and economic attainment. To learn more about the Boulder Fund, please visit www.edloc.org.
About Students RebuildStudents Rebuild is a collaborative program of the Bezos Family Foundation. Created in January 2010 in response to the devastating Haiti earthquake, Students Rebuild has mobilized more than one million participants in 83 countries and all 50 states and raised more than $7 million in matching funds for projects around the globe. Through its Challenges, Students Rebuild tackles some of the world’s most difficult problems, issues that one cannot solve alone. Guided by the belief that every young person can help others—but not everyone can fundraise—its Challenges require young people to create a simple, symbolic object, which the Foundation matches with funding. This approach allows students of all ages, backgrounds, and in countries around the world to take action and see change on global concerns. Find more at www.studentsrebuild.org and @StudentsRebuild.
