Gabrielle Wyatt
CEO & Founder, The Highland Project
Overview:
The Highland Project (THP) was created to deeply invest in Black women leaders of communities, institutions, and systems who are driving bold solutions resulting in multi-generational wealth and opportunity in their communities. In order to address systemic issues, multiple, structural solutions focused on generational wealth creation in Black communities are needed, particularly in educational equity. Boulder Fund resources will be used to launch the first cohort of The Highland Project (THP) Leaders: an interdisciplinary and intergenerational cohort of 15 Black women leaders that spans 18 months and equips each leader with $100000 in trusting capital.
Bio:
Gabrielle Wyatt founded The Highland Project in October 2020, an organization focused on building and sustaining a pipeline of Black women leading communities, institutions, and systems, resulting in the creation of multi-generational wealth in their communities.
Gabrielle, most recently a Partner at The City Fund, supported local education leaders across the nation to expand opportunities for students in public schools through strategic advising, board service, and philanthropic investments. During her tenure, Wyatt launched the City Leadership Fellowship, an executive leadership development program focused on empowering Black and Latinx leaders pursuing bold education visions.
Before joining The City Fund, Gabrielle was the Chief Strategy Officer at Civic Builders. A non-profit focused on solving the facilities challenge for high-quality charter schools. There Gabrielle led partnerships with the Walton Family Foundation and Laura and John Arnold Foundations to launch three national facilities funds to support growing operators. Gabrielle is the former Executive Director of Strategy for Newark Public Schools, New Jersey's largest school district. She led the district's efforts to increase access to high-quality public schools, enrollment, and financial strategy. The district's focus on increasing students' opportunities in public schools resulted in dramatic student progress improvements: in comparison with New Jersey schools as a whole, Newark improved from the 4th percentile to the 14th percentile in reading and math.
Previously, Gabrielle was the Associate Director of Portfolio Planning at the NYCDOE. As a Baltimore native, Gabrielle began her career as a Baltimore County Public Schools Board of Education member. Gabrielle is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the Harvard Kennedy School. Gabrielle Wyatt is the proud daughter of two Baltimore educators, Mary Alice Thomas and Quentin Wyatt. She credits her parents with instilling in her a passion for pursuing educational equity and excellence for all students.