The EGF Accelerator

Over the weekend I had the grounding opportunity to join The EGF Accelerator for the Foundation Trustees & Leaders Summit at The Legacy Sites in Montgomery, Alabama. This wasn’t my first visit to to Montgomery. I first visited Montgomery in February, 2020. My father had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and I knew that my time on the west coast had come to an end. So I packed up a decade of life in Oakland and I drove across the country. One of the few stops that I made on that solo trip was in Montgomery. I wanted to witness, to honor, to feel the history that is all of our legacy. Though I certainly didn’t know the pandemic was coming at the time, I did know personally that I was entering one of the hardest and saddest periods of life and it felt important to ground that knowledge of self within the tapestry of pain and brutality that built this nation. I was so present in sorrow and so aware of my privilege at the same time. This time the experience was different. I'm a mother now. I've lost a parent. And this time I was not alone; I was visiting the sites in community. This time the feelings were equally profound, and they were different. I think so much of leadership in impact work is about juxtaposition and our ability to move between worlds, to hold space for all of it. Thank you Cynthia Rivera Weissblum, Noel Anderson, and Lisette Nieves for holding space for all of us and for teaching us that joy and pain and possibility can and must coexist. Finally, a special thank you to artist and visionary creator, Michelle Browder for sharing and shining your light on all of us. It was truly an honor to meet you and learn about your transformative work.

As we continue to build our community at NewComm, we have made it part of our culture to hold "family meetings" where we engage in serious conversations that impact us as Black and Brown folks individually and as a collective community. One of these essential topics is money. By breaking the silence on financial conversations that are often kept taboo, we’re empowering young people to establish healthy financial habits early and build lasting financial wellness. To that end, we launched our 1st Annual Financial Wellness Summit to start this critical dialogue. Paris Woods, Ed.D. joined us and warned about the dangers of “raggedy advice” on money, helping us understand the importance of filtering the right information. Sabrina Lamb gave us the tools to budget and build our own personal Board of Directors, setting the foundation for financial independence. And last, and certainly not least, Juliana (Juju) Wong, M.Ed. provided a direct and clear deep dive into the complex world of college financial aid and scholarships, giving our students the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their educational futures. In between these invaluable lessons, our students shared laughs, enjoyed great food, and connected with each other through music—because learning about finances doesn’t have to be mad dry! LOL. At NewComm, our mission is to empower students by equipping them with the knowledge and skills to excel in both life and at school, while investing back into their communities. Financial literacy is just one step in that journey, and we’re excited to continue these important conversations! #FinancialWellness #NewComm #EmpoweringYouth #FinancialLiteracy #CommunityBuilding #LeadershipDevelopment #MissionDriven #CollegeSuccess

such an honor to support Genesys Works New York City and their talented ED Mike Gross! Good for young people. Good for the city!

We have news! As part of our efforts to strengthen the sector and build strong leaders, we are thrilled that Eliza Pesuit, founder of Global Glimpse and AiLun Ku, former CEO of The Opportunity Network, and EGF Accelerator veterans, will be part of our team for the next 12 months. They'll be sharing their wisdom with nonprofits in our network. #leadership #wisdom

There’s a lot of buzz around AI in edtech. But often missing from the conversation - and the tools themselves - is the voice of the educator. Does the tool respond to teachers’ pain points? Does it help elevate teachers’ instruction? Does it provide a pedagogically sound and active learning experience for students? Does it offer teachers insight into students’ challenges? When it comes to subjective subjects like writing, these questions become even more salient and difficult to address within an edtech tool. To mark Teacher Appreciation week, we sat down with Peter Gault, Executive Director and co-founder of Quill.org, to discuss how his organization is addressing these challenges. Quill’s AI-powered literacy tools automatically grade and serve feedback on student writing, enabling students to revise their work and quickly build their skills. Quill has been working with AI long before it became a mainstay of the news cycle. Gault shared how Quill is managing the transition from predictive AI to generative AI; why writing is such an important skill; the process of constructing quality feedback; and why we need to engage teachers in the edtech development and implementation process. https://lnkd.in/e_cQ6U2r

We love it when other wise philanthropist like the ones at the Siegel Family Endowment recognize what we saw in Quill.org! Peter Gault and his team, EGF Accelerator alum, are riding the #AI wave!

Chidi Asoluka, a shining star of the EGF Accelerator Fellows program 4.0, we could not be more excited to hear about your progress at NewComm #socialjustice #literacyforall #criticalthinkers

Loving this. So proud of Kashon DuBose at Cultivators, NYC, an EGF Accelerator Fellow and Communitas America alumn. #betterworld.

We believe that talent is everywhere. This policy paper, written by our own Peg Tyre for FutureEd at Georgetown spells out how the academic ability of underserved students is routinely overlooked -- and what we can do about it. Take a read. Give us your thoughts.

Great opportunity for some 9th graders here. And hats off to visionary founder Chidi Asoluka of NewComm, an EGF Accelerator Fellow.