About the Foundation

The Foundation is currently transitioning to a long-term strategic focus. The emerging work  represents a natural evolution of previous investments and will remain in service of the Foundation’s current mission.   More information about our new focus – including details about initiative areas and grant availability - will be made available in early 2010.

The Foundation anticipates that new grants will be made available in 2010. For more information, please visit our Grant Guidelines page and sign up to be notified when grants become available. 

Beliefs

The Foundation’s emerging grantmaking and strategic outlook are rooted, in part, in a set of larger beliefs that provide guidance and context for the Foundation’s work.

The Foundation’s beliefs:

1. Greater equity is a vital factor to the positive development of our society. Greater equity promotes economic, civic, and cultural health from which society benefits.

2. There are various issues that contribute to current social and economic inequities, including but not limited to the many issues surrounding race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. While high quality educational opportunities can contribute to a broader success in life, they are not the only critical contributing factors.

3. Strong skills and knowledge – currently identified as those commensurate with at least two years of postsecondary education – are critical in order to be adequately prepared for life in the 21^st century. Promoting these skills in developmentally appropriate ways is essential.

4. While ‘achievement gaps’ – the gaps between the educational outcomes of different populations – remain dangerously wide, the current gap between what skills all students need to possess and what skills they are learning is dangerously wide as well.  This is especially true for those learners who have been traditionally underserved (including students from lower socio-economic status, low-income students of color, and rural students).

5. While much has been learned and some substantial gains have been made thanks to the good work of educators, policymakers, philanthropies, and the for-profit sector over the years, many of the efforts to improve schooling and related educational outcomes have been insufficient in providing enough students with the skills and knowledge they need.

6. The Foundation believes that extraordinary outcomes for the majority of New England’s learners – especially those currently underserved – are necessary in order to have a flourishing society, and that these ambitious outcomes are entirely possible.