Philadelphia Education Fund

SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR 2025 EDUCATE PHILLY BENEFIT! The annual luncheon and master class event benefits the Philadelphia Education Fund and our Philadelphia Scholars Scholarship Endowment. 🗓️ Wednesday, May 7, 2025 🕛 Networking: 11AM - 12PM; Luncheon & Program: 12-2PM 📍 Center City (exact location TBD) 📢 Educate Philly Master Class | This year’s theme is Constitutional Law 101: Free Speech and Campus Life, and we’re assembling a heavy-hitter panel of experts and scholars in the field including Jeffrey Rosen, President and CEO of the National Constitution Center and Will Creeley, Legal Director of FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Moderated by PEF's President and CEO, Farah Jimenez, the discussion will explore the foundation of our Constitutional right to free speech, the established limits on that right, and how our students – as well as the administrators at their colleges and universities – can enhance campus life through the preserving and optimal exercise of free speech. 🌟Celebrating Star Students | The highlight every year at Educate Philly is the opportunity to celebrate and honor the accomplishments of our student Scholars! The Rising Star Award recognizes the high achievement of two high school seniors in our College Access Program, and The Baldadian Shining Star Award is given to a college sophomore or junior of outstanding academic success and character. ✔️MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR MAY 7 ℹ️ STAY TUNED FOR MORE DETAILS IN THE COMING MONTHS!

The Philadelphia STEM Equity Collective (PSEC), managed in partnership between global healthcare company GSK and the Philadelphia Education Fund’s Philadelphia STEM Ecosystem, strives to increase the number of Black, Latinx and women Philadelphians going into STEM careers by 2030. Using a collective impact approach, PSEC works to increase access to STEM in homes and communities, create diverse education to career pathways, and support STEM workplaces where Black and Latinx people and women thrive. 🎉 Join PSEC and its many STEM equity partners and collaborators in celebrating the second annual Philadelphia STEM Equity Week from October 26 to November 2

We are excited to announce the launch of the CASE College Access and Success Ecosystem website: CASEphilly.org 💻 https://lnkd.in/e5JH4m3w 💻 Find details on upcoming meetings and recaps from past meetings, Steering Committee and Action Team leadership, ecosystem mission and values, and more. We encourage you to bookmark the website and share with colleagues or friends who might be interested in joining us! BECOME AN ECOSYSTEM MEMBER: https://lnkd.in/emNseWyd DECEMBER ECOSYSTEM MEETING // FAFSA Completion: Our Citywide Collective Effort 📆&⏲ Wednesday, December 11 from 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM 📍 The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia (200 S Broad St Suite 700, Philadelphia) ☕ Coffee and a light breakfast will be provided Ecosystem members will convene to discuss our citywide collective FAFSA completion effort. We will first hear from Laura Keane, Strategy Advisor, U.S. Department of Education, who will provide key FAFSA data, strategy and priorities. Then, attendees will break into Action Teams. During this working portion of the meeting, CASE members will collaborate to map and commit to each individuals' part of the collective FAFSA completion effort. MEETING DETAILS & RSVP: https://lnkd.in/e5arKJNz QUESTIONS? Contact Ellen Ridyard, Director of Collaboration and Partnerships at the Philadelphia Education Fund at eridyard@philaedfund.org.

With my friends at PHEAA, I-LEAD, Inc., The School District of Philadelphia, and The Field Center for Children's Policy, Practice, and Research, I'm co-hosting a financial aid workshop geared towards youth with foster care experience and their adult supporters. Please join on October 29 and share widely! Registration at link: https://lnkd.in/dx9UBpTf

PEF is #hiring for a Development Director! If you are a fundraising professional, passionate about advancing our organization's ability to support the college and career aspirations and STEM education development of Philly public school students, we encourage you to explore this position: https://lnkd.in/e5FBBpb #CareerOpportunities #NonprofitCareer #Nonprofit #PHLed #CollegeAccess #CollegeSuccess

Global Exploration For Educators Organization (GEEO) Teacher Travel Programs is partnering with the Penn South Asia Center at University of Pennsylvania for a summer travel program to Sri Lanka that will run from June 30th - July 13th, 2025. This program is open to educators of all levels, and they will receive free classroom materials, a PD certificate, and the option to receive graduate credit. GEEO allows educators to bring along non-educator guests to join trips, should they wish to bring any. The cost for the program is $2042 and UPenn is offering four $1000 grants to active classroom educators (K-12 and university) who wish to participate in this program. 🔗 FOR GRANT APPLICATION: https://lnkd.in/e_grT76 🔗 FOR TRIP DETAILS: https://lnkd.in/ewDz3hP9 TAG AN EDUCATOR WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THIS GRANT SUPPORTED TRAVEL OPPORTUNITY!

PEF's College Access Program (CAP) Coordinators Amaya Cooper and Ahmad Williams at Frankford High School have been hard at work planning a new College & Career Speaker Series for their students, and kicked off the initiative last week with a special Hispanic Heritage Month panel! The CAP Coordinators assembled speakers Heydy Martinez, Alycea DeLong, Jada Urbaez-Torres, and Nicole A., who shared about their career journeys and post secondary experiences with the high schoolers. This College & Career Speaker Series aims to empower students by providing them with the knowledge and resources they need to succeed in college and beyond. Thank you to the panelists for sharing their stories and helping to inspire our students as they begin to chart their own course towards postsecondary and career success! #CollegeAccess #CollegeSuccess #PHLed

RSVP today for the flagship event of our 2024 STEM Equity Week - the STEMposium: To Inclusion and Beyond - a symposium that brings together members of the Philadelphia STEM Equity Collective (PSEC), the Philadelphia STEM Ecosystem, and collaborators in STEM education and industry. Join us on Wednesday, October 30 from 12:00 – 5:30pm at the University City Science Center, for this opportunity to recognize the work being done by PSEC and Ecosystem members, center the experiences of young people on STEM pathways entering the workforce, surface new scholarship around STEM equity. Attendees will also hear from Councilmember Nina Ahmad as she presents a citation on STEM Equity Week and Keynote Speaker, Dr. Joeletta Patrick, who is currently serving on a two-year detail assignment to NASA Langley Research Center as the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Champion. FULL DETAILS & RSVP HERE: https://lnkd.in/eB6ViJsb **Arrivals and light fare starting at 12:00pm; program begins at 1:00pm and concludes at 4:30pm; stay for a reception and awards ceremony until 5:30pm** Session 1: Insights from the Cramp Community of Practice // The Partnership Community of Practice (PCoP) at William Cramp Elementary school is a project of the PSEC K-12 Workgroup. In this session, panelists Jamie Shuda, EdD, Elias Corbin, Hollie Barattolo, Kelly Kemmerle, Dr Leslie Grace, Suzanne Safran, and Alyssa Evringham will unpack the process and learnings from establishing new partnerships with a K-5 school and delivering culturally responsive approaches, in-school STEM experiences, OST professional development, and running a family STEM event. Session 2: Reflections on STEM Pathways // Current post-secondary students and recent graduates share reflections on their experience so far on a STEM career pathway. Panelists Kamal Carter, Gabriela Alfaro, and Imani Dixon will highlight opportunities and challenges along their pathway and will focus on the importance of creating a supportive and inclusive environment for all students, regardless of their gender, race, or background. Session 3: Looking into the future of STEM // What will STEM careers of the future look like? STEM professionals including Ivana Seric, Jessica Tilli, Ed.D., and Jeremiah Oteh share insights and predictions about current and future cutting-edge technologies and the skills needed to be ready for emerging STEM careers, as well as the increasing demand for STEM professionals across various industries such as data science, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and renewable energy.

Two weeks ago, Johns Hopkins University School of Education’s Pathways to Adult Success (PAS) kicked off the 2024-25 school year by bringing their community together for a webinar, “Launching for Success”, held virtually on September 24. Attendees had an opportunity to engage with presenters on the latest initiatives and work being done nationwide to put students on a pathway to adult success built upon the foundations of Agency, Belonging, and Connectedness – the new ABCs. Philadelphia Education Fund President & CEO Farah Jimenez was honored to be included among the panel of presenters and given an opportunity to share how PEF has integrated the PAS foundations and framework into our organizations work over the past five years. Farah shared that to help students develop agency, we designed and launched the Junior Toolkit that our College Access Program high school juniors can use to self-direct their college exploration, preparation, and application process. PEF has also worked to build a citywide understanding of how the predictive indicators identified by PAS inform the work of college access providers, such as improving attendance through the new ABCs. Lastly, Farah highlighted PEF’s Scholars Advantage summer program, which was designed with the PAS framework in mind, in that students are engaged in college and career exploration through a program that awards them a stipend based on demonstrated behaviors for college success, as identified by PAS, and by creating a sense of belonging for students with the cohort design. Full details here: https://lnkd.in/eKBaaPeT PEF is so grateful for the 20+ year relationship with The Johns Hopkins University and the opportunity it has enabled for us to serve students better and more meaningfully. MORE ABOUT PATHWAYS TO ADULT SUCCESS // The PAS initiative is rooted in the long-standing research and community-building mission of the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University.

Yesterday Dominique A Thomas, Social Justice Programs Coordinator of the Women In Natural Sciences and I met two fantastic 2024 Women's Leadership Fellows of the Eisenhower Fellowships International Programs - Zaiga Pūce, Director of the Society Integration Fund in Latvia and Yiting Ding of Managing Partner at Shuimu Tsinghua Alumni Seed Fund in China. We shared about our work with youth in STEM in Philly and how much more needs to be done, not just here but worldwide. Thank you Seya Fadullon for considering the Philadelphia STEM Ecosystem and the Philadelphia Education Fund as a stop for these incredible women - #womeninstem #womenleadership #stementrepreneurs #stemeducation #philastemeco #pef #psec