Boston — September 30, 2013 — NewSchools Venture Fund’s Boston Charter School Replication Fund (“Boston Fund”) announces its investment of $1.6 million in three charter management organizations (CMOs): City on a Hill, Match Education and Unlocking Potential. These investments demonstrate the Boston Fund’s continued commitment to expand high-performing charter schools in Massachusetts.
NewSchools has been investing in CMOs since its founding, recognizing the importance of these ventures in bringing quality education to underserved K-12 students. The Boston Fund was first launched in July 2011, and has invested a total of $5.3m in Massachusetts-based CMOs.
”These three entrepreneurial organizations have proven that they can deliver great results for some of Boston’s highest need students,” said NewSchools’ Managing Partner Jim Peyser. “Through their expansion, these charter school operators will have an even greater impact on the transformation of Boston’s public school system.”
While Unlocking Potential and Match Education are not new investments for NewSchools –the nonprofits received their first funding, in 2010 and 2011, respectively – City on a Hill is a new member of the organization’s portfolio.
In 2011, Unlocking Potential took over the management of the Gavin Middle School in Boston, resulting in one of the highest student growth rates in the state during its first year of operation. Unlocking Potential now serves 1,500 students in Boston and Lawrence, Mass. The new investment in this nonprofit school management organization is intended to support the turnaround of the former Marshall Elementary School, which re-opens this summer as UP Academy Dorchester.
With the new investment from the Boston Fund, Match Education will leverage the success of its high-performing high school to pilot and launch Match Next, a new blended learning middle school that uses an innovative, tutor-based instructional design. Since receiving its first investment from NewSchools in 2011, the organization opened Match Community Day elementary school, which now serves 300 students. Students graduating from the school will become Match Next’s first cohort of fifth graders in 2014.
The Boston Fund’s new investment in City on a Hill, which operates a tuition-free college preparatory charter high school in Boston, will enable the organization to launch its second campus in the city. This CMO was selected by the Boston Fund to join its portfolio due its winning track record of preparing students to attend and succeed in college.
City on a Hill joins other Boston Fund portfolio organizations, including Edward Brooke, Excel Academy, KIPP Massachusetts, Roxbury Prep, Match Education, Unlocking Potential, and Match Teacher Residency.
For inquiries, information and interview requests, please contact [email protected].
About NewSchools Venture Fund
NewSchools Venture Fund is a nonprofit venture philanthropy firm that supports entrepreneurs who are transforming K-12 public education and providing opportunities for underserved students. Since NewSchools’ founding in 1998, $248 million has been raised, and invested, in a national portfolio of early-stage ventures, including charter schools, teacher preparation programs, and educational technology companies. These investments have improved the educational outcomes for more than 15 million students. To learn more, please visit: https://www.newschools.org.