NewSchools Venture Fund CEO Ted Mitchell congratulates portfolio members that won i3

August 5, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Aug. 5, 2010—NewSchools Venture Fund CEO Ted Mitchell today congratulated the nine NewSchools-supported ventures that won grants through the federal Investing in Innovation (“i3”) program.

The i3 grants will enable the organizations to develop and grow high-impact innovations that benefit the education of low-income children.

“These awards represent an unprecedented recognition by the federal government of the power of innovation to desperately need drive change in low-income schools,” Mitchell said. “Over the life of these grants, America will have a chance to see what we’ve witnessed over the last dozen years: that passionate education entrepreneurs can change lives and communities.”

Several of the i3 awards went to entrepreneurial organizations of the type that NewSchools seeks to support and grow. Nine of the i3 top-scorers are current or past grantees of NewSchools: Teach For America; the KIPP Foundation; the Success for All Foundation; New Schools for New Orleans; The New Teacher Project; AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation; Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools; School of One; and the Achievement Network. (NewSchools’ grant to KIPP funds only KIPP DC, not the national organization, which is the entity that earned top scores in i3.)

“These funds will allow all of these organizations to take their vital work to a next stage and reach many more students,” Mitchell said.

About NewSchools Venture Fund (www.newschools.org):

NewSchools Venture Fund seeks to transform public education through powerful ideas and passionate entrepreneurs so that all children – especially those in underserved communities – have the opportunity to succeed. As a national nonprofit venture philanthropy firm, NewSchools supports education entrepreneurs, a special breed of innovators who create new nonprofit and for-profit organizations that redefine our sense of what is possible in public education. Founded in 1998, NewSchools has invested in more than 35 nonprofit and for-profit organizations and raised nearly $175 million. We take an active role with each venture in our portfolio to help them create sustainable organizations that generate breakthrough results at scale for the students they serve. In addition to the direct support we provide those entrepreneurs, NewSchools also connects their work to the broader public education reform movement to catalyze systems change.

Media Contact:

Julie Petersen
Communications Director
NewSchools Venture Fund
Phone: (415) 615-6863
[email protected]