This year and this month marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America. Through government campaigns, school projects, conversation, social media, and other facets of life, we are asked to honor the past by reflecting on the nation’s history, and to imagine what the next 250 years could look like.  

I believe we cannot reflect on America at 250 without recognizing and celebrating the ways young people are already shaping the world and communities around them. Throughout history, young people have always been at the forefront of leading change. The Greensboro four were Black college students who sat down at a segregated lunch counter and sparked a wave of student-led action that came to define the civil rights movement. And right here in California, young people are at the heart of the youth vote movement—making the case that if 16- and 17-year-olds can work, pay taxes, and shape their schools, they’re ready to help choose the leaders who set the rules. Across the history of the country, it’s often youth who have consistently held the vision, conviction, and power to name and solve problems in our society.  

We can hold up these bright spots and bright young people, but it’s important to name that all young people have the potential to lead. Youth with possibility, purpose, and drive are in schools, neighborhoods, and communities all around us. It’s the systems—from schools to government to businesses—that need to shift to value, support, and uplift all of young people’s unique strengths, identities, aspirations, and ideas. These are the questions I keep coming back to: What would it mean if schools and society, more broadly, matched the energy and fire of young people and met them where they are, rather than asking them to hold back, conform to expectations, and fit into the status quo? What if young people, regardless of their community or background, had the opportunity and support to transform their ideas into meaningful change? 

We cannot reflect on America at 250 without recognizing and celebrating the ways young people are already shaping the world and communities around them.

Making this shift requires us to revisit what we are preparing young people for: full and purpose-filled lives. Lives that include a quality education, a fulfilling career, attention to health and wellbeing, engagement in politics and civic life, friendships and relationships, and connection to our communities. A critical purpose of education is to develop both academic knowledge and the evergreen skills, experiences, dispositions, and capacities that help young people flourish across all these areas of life. In a series of articles in SSIR supported by the Stuart Foundation and Hewlett Foundation, multiple authors named that these skills—curiosity, conviction, agency, and more—are valuable not only for learning and careers but are also core to participating in our democracy. Fulfilling this broader purpose for education requires high-quality learning opportunities that are experiential and project-based, actively engage students, and connect deeply to their lives, communities, and interests. This focus for schools does not have to come at the cost of fostering wellbeing, kindness, compassion, and empathy; rather, these features enhance student success and thriving.  

Across California and the country, momentum is building to rethink the high school experience to meet the full scope of education’s purpose. Efforts like community schools, which have been prioritized in California in recent years, are shifting teaching practices, school structures, and mindsets about young people in ways that better prepare and support them to fulfill the academic, social and human, and civic and democratic purposes of school. With an emphasis on collaborative leadership and shared decision-making inherent in their design, community schools truly live into the idea that young people must be engaged as true partners and leaders in their teaching and learning, in their schools and communities, and in our democracy. 

What would it mean if schools and society matched the energy and fire of young people and met them where they are, rather than asking them to hold back, conform to expectations, and fit into the status quo?

This is what makes me hopeful about the future: the young people I meet, and the schools, organizations, and leaders at every level that are working to support them. They’re leaning into care, curiosity, and belonging, at the same time that they are engaging in bold advocacy, conducting research, building youth voice and power, leading civic projects, and investing in solutions that will carry us into the next 250 years. They are showing that it’s possible to change conditions, structures, and policies so that young people are inspired and supported to build the future, not just to inherit it. 

Building that future requires developing a collective vision and integrating many ideas for how to achieve it. Over the coming weeks, we will be asking young people, educators, and our partners in this work: What is the world you want to build over the next 250 years? How do we get there? How do we center youth leadership and agency in this next chapter? 

We encourage you to have these conversations with your family, friends, colleagues, and communities—and share your thoughts and ideas with us at stories@stuartfoundation.org.  

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The post America at 250: Young People Building the Future, Not Just Inheriting It appeared first on Stuart Foundation.

Sophie Fanelli: Over your career, you’ve studied a wide variety of education issues, including high school redesign, which has taken on a new sense of urgency. Why is high school redesign so important now, and what does it mean in practice for students, educators, and families? 

Linda Darling-Hammond: I’ve been worried about this since I started teaching in the 1970s in big factory-model high schools where kids were on the conveyor belt. I saw 30 students at a time, six times a day—180 kids in a day—and I cared desperately about them, but I could not care effectively for them in that system. 

This is not a new problem, but it’s especially important today: during the pandemic, we were reminded how important relational anchors are for students and how important it is that the work students do is purposeful, meaningful, and engaging. There was a study not long ago of 25,000 high school students; 75% had only negative adjectives to apply to their high school experience. The most common were bored, stressed, and tired. In California’s Healthy Kids survey, about 50% of students said they had an adult who knew them well in their high school, and about 50% felt a sense of belonging. Only ~22% felt they were doing anything important or meaningful in high school. 

So many pieces of the curriculum need to be rethought to get kids ready for a world that includes AI, rapidly changing jobs, and the need for civic engagement. In redesign work across California, our goal is to enable all of our high schools to be relationally supportive, purposeful, meaningful, civically engaged places that are also professionally organized for teachers to collaborate. 

Sophie: Thank you for the reminder that this is not a new problem, but it does have new urgency. Young people are very clear about what they want from school—and if we don’t meet them where they are, I think we’ll see that crisis of connection grow. 

California has just invested $10 million in a school redesign initiative. Can you talk about what that is, how it connects to prior investments, and how we make this set of investments coherent? 

Linda: This set of investments are all related, first to creating schools like community schools—we have 2,500 in the state now, and the 2027 budget trailer bill proposes expanding funding so that nearly two-thirds of our schools will be community schools that offer integrated student supports for health and mental health, relational and restorative practices, social-emotional learning, and that are places where kids are well known, families are connected, and learning is connected to the community.  Additionally, the governor’s career master plan looks at how we create college and career pathways, including the state’s more than 600 Linked Learning pathways, which prepare students with A-G coursework, college-preparatory classes, and industry-supported internships and experiential learning. 

In places across the state that are using these funds successfully, it’s enlivening and exciting to see students so engaged. Oakland, for example, has gone wall-to-wall with redesigning its high schools, with much-increased graduation rates, A-G completion rates, and achievement levels. At Fremont High School and Oakland High School, there are small learning communities: an architecture pathway, or a law and social justice pathway, for example. The traditional academics are applied to work they’re doing in the field: in an environmental science pathway, students are studying water quality at Lake Merritt and enacting proposals to improve it. They’re engaged in what matters to them and making learning functional and applied. You don’t see the problems of chronic absenteeism and disengagement in settings where students’ needs for relationships and for purposeful, meaningful learning are being met. 

One thing to note: there is big demand for this tiny $10 million pilot, which is supporting 14 redesign networks of districts and schools to stimulate and support redesign work. We had more than 50 applicants, which represented 20% of all districts in the state—all trying to apply for this pilot. This shows a shared sense that we’ve got to make high school a place that prepares kids for the future, and a place they want to go to every single day. In the schools that have done this kind of work, the disengagement we’ve worried about is generally much less likely to be present. Teachers and kids want to be there.  

Sophie: Your paper with University of Southern California Neuroscientist Mary Helen Immordino-Yang elevates that young people need to be engaged in their learning, that it needs to be hands on, that play matters, that rigor and relevance can work together. Can you talk about what the neuroscience tells us about adolescent learning? 

Linda: Mary Helen Immordino-Yang is taking MRIs of students and teachers and literally measuring what the brain is doing while they’re learning. One of the things we know from the emerging science of development is that we all learn through experiences and relationships. With strong relationships, not only do teachers know their students well, but also the way they teach and evaluate work is more profound, which has been measured with brain waves. This makes a real difference in teaching, learning, and assessment. 

We also know that adolescence is a time when the brain is just exploding again. A lot of people talk about the first years of life, but adolescence is also a very significant moment for brain development. Part of that is the development of transcendent thinking—the ability to understand the bigger implications of things, which has beneficial effects: it reduces the extent to which students are traumatized by negative events because they have a different perspective, and they feel more empowered and have more control. They also begin to understand the ways in which they can act on the world, and how what they’re learning makes a difference. When we build schools that offer opportunities for relational experiences, deeper learning, and deeper thinking, we’re really feeding adolescent development in ways that allow whole adults to emerge with purpose, meaning, and care for their community. 

Sophie: I’m hearing a symmetry between what adolescents need in school and what teachers need as well. Can you talk about the role of teachers in redesigned schools? 

Linda: I used to say that if I ever got really good at teaching high school, I’d be teaching like a preschool teacher, because they know everything about their students and exactly where they are across all dimensions of development, and how to support them. 

In California, if you want to see one of the models built on that thinking, go to RFK Community School in Los Angeles, where there are multiple small schools within a big building. A group of four teachers—math, social studies, English language arts, science—will share 100 to 120 kids. A counselor is attached, sometimes a special educator. Teachers have time built into their schedules to collaborate, both around their discipline and around the grade-level students they share in their team. They talk about how to best support students and they do interdisciplinary curriculum planning so that when you’re studying revolutions in history, you’re also studying the literature and the scientific investigations from those time periods. 

What researchers have found about these kinds of designs is that graduation rates are better, achievement is better, kids feel more attached, and chronic absenteeism is lower when you build these kinds of settings—designed not to select and sort, but to develop human talent. 

Sophie: UCLA has an incredible teacher education program where candidates can intern at the UCLA Community School. How do we connect teacher preparation programs with redesigned schools more broadly?  

Linda: The program at UCLA is wonderful, and there’s great work being done at Berkeley and other programs across the state as well. UCLA has taken advantage of the teacher residency grants, which allow you to pay teachers while they’re getting prepared, and to pair them with mentors for a full year of clinical practice connected to coursework. And they’ve placed those residents in schools doing extraordinary work. What we find is that teachers who go through residencies rate their programs most highly, go into and stay in teaching at higher rates, and pass the teacher performance assessment at higher rates without disparities. It’s giving them a solid entry point and helping reduce the churn. 

There are also high school pathways now focused specifically on teacher preparation—the teaching academies in the Golden State Pathways. We can imagine students in a teaching pathway mentoring, tutoring, and interning—maybe in an early childhood program. They could come out with a child development permit and start working right away, then stack credentials over time and come into the teaching force. We also need to make the path through college and career much more efficient. With dual credit, kids could graduate with a full year of college under their belt and enter a career or credential program immediately. 

Sophie: Surveys of parents and voters across political lines show broad support for school to be relevant, engaging, and preparing students for college and career. We have building blocks in place—community schools, Golden State Pathways, dual enrollment. What’s the biggest barrier to moving from pockets of innovation to a systemwide focus? 

Linda: The factory model and all of the policies around it represent decades—a geological layer—of regulation for a system that was constructed in the early 1900s built on a seat-time, transmission-curriculum model. We now have to build a system based on competencies, on how kids can demonstrate what they’ve learned, how they can combine areas of learning and apply them to real problems. That is not in the current design, and we’re going to have to be very deliberate about rolling back the things that are barriers.  

And we’ll have to invent things: there is a career passport under construction right now as part of the career master plan, which will capture competencies acquired through jobs, internship experiences, and courses, and package that into a platform that can inform employers and higher education institutions. There are lots of ways to think about transcripts and platforms for understanding and communicating competencies, not just tied to Carnegie units, seat time, and credits. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which invented the Carnegie unit, is now trying to get rid of it. 

Many states are involved in this work, and California partners with several others trying to figure out how to invent the new system that will really allow kids to develop the flexible, deep thinking and research skills that are going to serve them as the economy changes. 

Sophie Fanelli: I’m so impressed by the leadership you’ve shown in pushing for these reforms. We can’t wait. When you talk to young people and adolescents—and we do a lot of that at the foundation—they’re ready for this today. I understand it’s going to be very hard. It’s hard to transform a system that’s 100 years old, anchored in old models and frankly, old mindsets about what young people are capable of and what they should have access to. It’s exciting to see so much alignment and so much momentum for this work. 

The post Up Close: The Future of High School with Linda Darling-Hammond  appeared first on Stuart Foundation.

Amber: In the Learner-Centered Ecosystem white paper, you write that most schools still operate from a school-centered paradigm. What does it mean for a high school to instead be learner-centered? What does that look like in action and practice?

Katie: School-centered models were designed for an industrial era, so they are based on standardization, ranking, and sorting people―completing assignments and just moving along. A learner-centered system is a place where young people have agency. They’re doing work that matters. It’s about personalization and helping students understand where they’re going. In high schools specifically, we want young people to understand their strengths, talents, goals, and challenges, and to be able to take courses and have experiences that help them build on that. So, it’s not just going through a six-period day, taking math and English and science. Of course it’s about those academic foundations, but we also want to see students in internships, collaborating on projects, working with community organizations, and understanding the workforce and how their strengths, interests, and talents connect to those opportunities.

One of my favorite examples is a young woman I talked to in Paramount, California. In her sophomore year, she thought she wanted to be a doctor until she had an internship opportunity to work in a hospital and realized she hated it. So instead of continuing to go to school for 8 years to be a doctor, she realized, “I need to look at some other pathways, because I don’t want to spend my life doing that.” I call that a huge win.

Amber: COVID recovery, the rise in AI technology, and other shifts in today’s world present schools with an opportunity to reimagine what it means to teach and learn. What do learners need to prepare them for an evolving future, and what can schools do to meet those needs?

Katie: In terms of what schools need to become: They need to become community hubs. They need to be central and permeable, so it is not just this isolated building where young people go for 7 hours and then leave, and it’s disconnected from the rest of their lives. We need to reimagine the day and think about how to create schools that allow students to move more flexibly among their passions, their interests, their academics, and tie them all together. These shifts would allow for them to have a full life, not just one that’s crammed at the edges.

Amber: What do you see as the potential and power of the California Secondary School Redesign Pilot to help schools make these shifts?

Katie: The California Secondary School Redesign Pilot has real potential to be a turning point for this work because it represents both a signal and a shift. The state’s endorsement matters. It validates that this isn’t fringe innovation, but necessary evolution. It also acknowledges something many educators have been feeling for a long time: we can’t keep layering new initiatives onto outdated systems and expect different results. It’s time to redesign the core structures themselves to create the kind of meaningful, engaging learning experiences our students actually deserve.

What’s especially powerful about this pilot is that it shines a light across the state to highlight what’s working alongside the real barriers that have been holding schools back. That visibility creates shared learning and a stronger case for change. At the same time, the pilot gives schools permission to try, test, and iterate in ways that traditional systems often discourage. That combination—permission plus visibility—has the potential to catalyze real momentum, moving redesign from isolated efforts to a more coherent, statewide movement.

Amber: How will this type of purpose-driven, personalized, holistic learning change how young people experience school?

Katie: I want young people to have opportunities not just to read Shakespeare and fill in tests, but also to understand their strengths and interests. This means being able to see beyond college prep courses and a 4.6 GPA to what they want to do in their lives, how they want to thrive in their community, and what opportunities and challenges might exist for them in that path. I think we get so caught up in, “Did you do your homework? Do you have an A? What college are you going to?” that we’re not helping them develop their ideas and aspirations. The more we can incorporate that into our schooling and education ecosystems, the better off students will be, and all of us will be in the long run.

Devin: I have met many young people who are motivated, interested, and curious, but who feel like they needed to check all of those things at the door to just play the game of school. This is why many amazing young people disengage or drop out: not because they don’t have incredible assets and strengths to bring into the world, but because they don’t see the value of playing that game of school. We need to change that for every young person. An important part of that is welcoming diverse cultural experiences and identities so students can bring their whole selves into school. Seeing differences as strengths and assets not only helps us do a better job of knowing young people as individuals, but also supports them being able to thrive in community and engage in the world as their best selves.

Amber: What are some schools you’ve worked with that exemplify these learner-centered features?

Katie: Bostonia Global is a high school in Cajon Valley Union School District in San Diego County exploring the competency-based model and helping young people navigate school with intentionality, develop projects, and progress in essential skills. They also prioritize mentoring, which is something we don’t make time for in a traditional model that can really help students engage with academics with more intentionality.

Devin: VIDA, or the Vista Innovation Design Academy, is a middle school in Vista Unified School District, also in San Diego County. They undertook a very ambitious school redesign project anchored in design thinking. It was really spectacular to see how incorporating human-centered design thinking throughout the school structures elevated engagement, achievement, and excitement and energy about learning. That success influenced change at the high school level: When the first group of students graduated from VIDA to Vista High, they met with the principal the first week of school to share: We know what we’re capable of. We are active learners, we can contribute a lot, and we’re not going to sit here passively for the next four years. And that influenced the redesign at the high school and the formation of a personal learning academy that ended up winning an XQ Super School Prize (awarded to innovative high school models).

Another example is Circulos High School in Santa Ana Unified School District, which has an innovative practice called Community Week. Every 6 to 8 weeks, the students nominate and vote on courses they want to take. The school then offers a week of these student-generated courses, sometimes taught by the students themselves. I saw a high school student teaching about the difference between Roth IRAs and traditional IRAs and it was awesome—it was relevant and authentic and meaningful.

Amber: As you look ahead, how do you hope the field will reclaim or reimagine the purpose of public schooling, and what will it take to bring that vision to life?

Katie: Many of these examples and models doing amazing things for young people are still on the fringes, outside of the neighborhood public high school. We need to bring these new and better approaches into our traditional public school systems so that all students can engage in learning they’re excited about. I always think about the Gallup poll that showed engagement decline significantly from 6th grade to 12th grade, with only 30% of students saying they are doing things that they do best, having fun, and doing something meaningful. We can flip that, where 90-100% of young people are doing things that matter to them. To do that, we need to get really honest about what young people need, instead of being beholden to the models adults are familiar with.

Devin: There’s not some organization or entity out there that is going to just resolve these complex challenges and immense opportunities in education. It’s really up to each of us. Margaret Wheatley says that you should keep asking two questions: “Who cares?” and “What’s possible?” When you think about who cares about education and young people, it’s a lot of people. And if you invite them into this conversation about what’s possible, then you see incredible things emerging through that dialogue and dreaming together. I have seen this happen in more and more communities over the past few years. This is a time for us to come together and keep asking that question about what’s possible.

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In recognition of the 40th anniversary of the Stuart Foundation’s investments in California, the Foundation will be engaging in a year-long series of conversations to better understand both California’s progress toward advancing an equitable public education system and the next critical steps in that journey.  

In this first in a series, Dwight L. Stuart and Elbridge H. Stuart III, who have served on the Stuart Foundation Board of Directors since its inception in 1985, reflect with Roberta Furger on some of the essential lessons of four decades of work in California.  

Roberta: Over four decades, the Foundation’s strategy and areas of focus have evolved to meet changing needs and opportunities, as well as to reflect a deepening appreciation and analysis of the complexities of systems change. Through these changes, what are some of the core principles and understandings that have guided the Foundation’s work? 

Elbridge: One core principle is a commitment to understanding complex issues and being open to diverse perspectives. This orientation increases trust in our organization and enables us to serve as bridge builders and facilitators across groups and people who may not always agree. For example, in 2011 we were one of the early funders of the Labor Management Initiative, which brought education management organizations and unions together to build relationships and discuss issues. Our support of this effort was not about advancing a particular Foundation agenda. Rather, it was because we understand the value of creating a forum in which organizations with different perspectives could sit and talk to one another. This is so important, especially now.  We’re proud of our ability and interest in understanding diverse perspectives and bringing groups together to facilitate conversation and understanding.  

Dwight: That’s right. That commitment to understanding issues also guides our long-time  focus on research and data. There are many examples of how we have supported research and data collection and analysis over the years. One example of this is our support for the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning (CFTL), beginning in 1995 for 17 years. That work made clear the challenges with teacher shortages and teacher turnover in California, data that remains important today, given that the single most important factor in a student’s education is the quality of teaching and teachers. The data, once collected and reported by CFTL, is now collected by the state. 

The research on the teacher workforce is just one example in a long history of research investments that have informed policy and practice. We were among the foundations that supported the first Getting Down to Facts set of research studies, which played a big role in informing what became the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), for example. And the research we supported on the education of youth in foster care, conducted by WestEd originally, raised the profile of this student population and laid the groundwork for youth in foster care being identified as one of the targeted student groups in LCFF. 

We continue to fund research and data collection and analysis as an essential part of our strategy. 

Roberta: The Foundation has also been a convener, connecting people and organizations to build knowledge, understanding, and relationships to move work forward. Can you share a bit more about this work? 

Elbridge: Collaboration and partnership—this is an orientation that we hope grounds all of our relationships and work. Several years back, for example, we surveyed education-focused organizations in California and what we heard was that it wasn’t just the money that mattered to them. They also valued how foundation staff offered guidance, made introductions, and thought with them about strategy. 

Dwight: Collaboration has been a core practice over the years. It’s a hallmark of our two new funds, the Purpose of Education Fund and the Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund.  It isn’t easy to navigate different priorities and interests, but we understand and have seen the value of productive collaboration. 

Roberta: Thanks for elevating the two collaborative funds anchored by Stuart Foundation investments. One through-line across the two funds is a commitment to transforming the high school experience for young people to prepare them for success in a rapidly changing world and to provide them with opportunities to learn about and practice democracy. How does this goal fit into the Foundation’s broader vision of adolescent thriving? 

Dwight: It’s all about the skills young people need the instant they get out of school. The same skills that help them with jobs or in college contribute to them being informed and engaged civically.   

Elbridge: I think the Foundation’s emphasis on integrating civic learning is very important. It’s about knowledge of history, as well as an understanding that if you take an active part, you can help make change possible.  

Roberta: The Foundation’s work has long been about improving systems, structures, and practices to improve support for the most marginalized students. Why has that work been such an important anchor for the Foundation over the years? 

Elbridge: We know from the research that when the public education system adjusts and improves to better support students who are furthest from opportunity, it benefits all students—not just those for whom a particular intervention or program might be designed. That’s why we keep banging away at it—because the students deserve the opportunity and support to help them thrive and because the whole system is better for it.  

Roberta: Over the Foundation’s 40-year history, the landscape of education philanthropy in California has morphed and changed quite a bit, with new funders emerging and long-time funders shifting their priorities. And yet, despite these changes to the philanthropic and education landscape, the Foundation’s focus has remained consistent. Why do you stick with it? 

Dwight: Well, I just think there’s nothing harder to do and there’s nothing more important to do in a collective sense. Now, obviously, we have an education system that in many ways is still tied to the industrial system, and that needs to be updated and remodeled to meet today’s needs and realities. I don’t think you can have a vibrant society, a democratic society—I say that in a broad sense—and social viability for families and children and young adults without an education system that works well for every young person.  

Elbridge: That’s right. A quality education is a ticket to possibility. It doesn’t guarantee success, of course, but without it, young people and our democracy will struggle. 

The post Stuart Foundation at 40: An Interview with Dwight L. Stuart and Elbridge H. Stuart III appeared first on Stuart Foundation.

Photos and captions by Isadora Kosofsky/CatchLight for the Stuart Foundation.

The UCLA Community School, located on Wilshire Boulevard in the heart of Los Angeles, provides a powerful example of what is possible when a school is designed with thriving—of students, staff, families, and the broader community—at the center.

The school opened in 2009 as part of a grassroots campaign to relieve overcrowding in district schools. It is one of six schools that comprise the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools campus on the former site of the famed Ambassador Hotel.  

On March 27, 2025, the school community celebrated their quinceañera, or 15th birthday. In honor of this milestone—and in recognition of the powerful example the school provides for communities throughout California—we offer this up-close look at UCLA Community School through the lens of three high school students: Kaelin, Sujana, and Javir. 

Kaelin, 10th grade

I like how everyone is connected. I feel like everyone knows each other. My grade is an uplifting community.

Recognizing how critical strong and trusting relationships are to students’ ability to thrive academically and socially, UCLA Community School fosters and encourages connections among students and teachers through a number of structures and practices. 

At the middle and high school level, students participate in advisories, which function like in-school families, building community and providing support. High school students are in the same advisory all 4 years, providing time for students and their faculty advisors to forge deep relationships. Parents and caregivers also benefit from having a known and trusted teacher to turn to with questions throughout their student’s high school career. 

Teachers, for their part, are supported in developing their relational skills alongside their teaching expertise. 

Students experience the many benefits of these structures and supports. “My teachers are actually going to help me succeed,” said Kaelin. “They will do everything to make sure,” she continued, sharing that she has had teachers who continue to reach out to her, even when she is no longer in their class.

Students can play a variety of sports before or after school. In addition to playing tennis, Kaelin plays basketball, arriving early in the morning to practice before school starts.

“You build connection through playing a sport,” said Kaelin. “You are there for the same reason.” 

Based on their interests, students also participate in a variety of after-school clubs that encourage a culture of belonging. These include the Bruin Community Service Club, the Gender-Sexuality Alliance, and a Black Student Union and a Muslim Student Union, which students created to foster connection.

High school students at UCLA Community School benefit from an academic program that marries college-preparatory classes with project-based learning. Students have the opportunity to explore interest areas through an innovative seminar program that taps the passions and talents of staff to offer electives on topics ranging from robotics to Latin American film. 

All UCLA Community School students take a course load that exceeds the requirements for admissions to the University of California and California State University systems. Their classes are organized using a block schedule to allow more time for in-depth work and projects. Many students have the opportunity to experience college before they graduate high school through a dual enrollment partnership with Los Angeles City College.

UCLA Community School is also a dual language school. In the lower grades, all students receive language and content instruction in two languages, either Spanish/English or Korean/English. In grades 9–12, both new and continuing students enroll in a sequence of Spanish courses: Spanish 1–4, Advanced Placement (AP) Spanish Language, and AP Spanish Literature. About 4 in 10 students complete the requirements to earn the California State Seal of Biliteracy upon graduation.

I appreciate that the administration treats teachers and staff as professionals… we are willing to give it our all.

The Ambassador Hotel’s Cocoanut Grove nightclub and theatre now serves as the auditorium for the Robert F. Kennedy campus. A world-famous nightclub from the 1920s to the 1980s, the Cocoanut Grove was once a hotspot for West Coast entertainers, including film noir actresses like Joan Crawford and Gloria Swanson. The famed Art Deco-style venue is now a gathering space for all the schools on the campus.

Sujana, 11th grade

Open School, which brings families and other members of the school community to campus, is just one way UCLA Community School engages families.

Parents and caregivers regularly participate in classroom observations and their feedback is shared with teachers and the community. They also serve as mentors for students and as advocates for positive changes in school practices. Because of parent and caregiver advocacy, for example, the school created a full-time college counselor position.

The school holds monthly “convivios” or gatherings, where they discuss a range of topics of interest to families. As with most community schools, UCLA Community School invests in a shared leadership model. Its school governance committee is composed of teachers, staff, parents and caregiver, students, and UCLA partners. Among the responsibilities of this body is to recommend the hiring or retention of the principal to the district and the superintendent.

UCLA Community School prides itself on being multicultural and multilingual. More than 80% of students are Hispanic/Latinx, most students (95%) speak a language other than English at home, and many school assemblies are held in both English and Spanish. In 2024, the school increased support to its diverse families through “Know Your Rights” workshops, in addition to providing guidance through the onsite legal clinic and counseling staff. These supports are offered as part of a broad array of services, supports, and opportunities made possible by the community school model.

Our school… has this kind of college-going culture where they really encourage students to go to college.

UCLA Community School’s Student Advisory Board acts as a leadership body for high school students. It began during the pandemic when its members, as part of a research initiative, provided valuable information on how students and teachers were faring during remote learning. That initiative has since expanded into an ongoing leadership opportunity for students. Students also lead a variety of clubs and some have co-taught a seminar with faculty members.

Opportunities for leadership and engagement extend outside of school as well. Through experiential learning opportunities, students have the opportunity to research and address community issues and explore the diverse cultures of Koreatown, the neighborhood where the school is located. About two-thirds of area residents are foreign-born, primarily from Mexico, Central America, and Korea—among the highest percentage of immigrants in Los Angeles. Speaking about the school being located in Koreatown, Sujana notes, “This neighborhood is mostly like immigrants, right? It’s so nice… having a school where your cultures are celebrated and they’re kind of uplifted, instead of the students all being seen as homogenous.”

Javir, 12th grade

I don’t believe education is something you should buy. I think it should be a right for everyone.

UCLA Community School’s K–12 grade span creates unique opportunities for bonding and relationship-building among all members of the school community. Like many of their classmates, Javir and Adila have attended UCLA Community School since kindergarten; they began dating in high school. “I see them after every summer and say, oh they grew a little taller, or they lost a tooth,” said Javir of witnessing his classmates develop from children into teenagers.

“I have more connection to my classmates, so I was able to look for systems of support better. I think most of my classmates felt the same way,” said Javir. “Yeah, academics was a very hard part. But if we felt moments of struggle or moments of self-doubt, we always have someone to reach out to… to empathize with what we’re going through. Because, I mean, we’ve all faced it since kindergarten.”

The combination of rigorous and engaging academics, supportive structures, and caring relationships at UCLA Community School translate into young people being well prepared for life after high school, including continuing their formal education. For example, nearly all (97%) of UCLA Community School students graduate with plans to attend college and 80% enroll in college immediately after graduation.

 “Even though I was still in the moment at graduation, there was a lot of nostalgia running through my mind. All the little events and memories I’ve had with these students. I realized, ‘Boom!’ I won’t see them again. It is sad, but it is also a nice feeling. We are looking forward to the next chapter of our lives,” said Javir. 

We are looking forward to the next chapter of our lives.

Isadora Kosofsky is a documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. She has contributed to the New York Times, National Geographic Magazine, TIME, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Le Monde, Stern, GEO Germany and many others. Kosofsky is a TED Fellow, part of a network of global changemakers, and gave a talk at TED 2018. Most recently, she documented the devastation of the January 2025 Los Angeles fires for the New York Times, including the photos of young people in the article, “What It’s Like to Be a Kid After a Fire Took Almost Everything.”

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Dr. Adriana Galván is the Co-Executive Director of the UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent and Dean of Undergraduate Education at UCLA. In this interview with Roberta Furger, the Foundation’s Senior Director of Narrative and Strategy, Dr. Galván reflects on how the Los Angeles fires are impacting adolescents and how educators and caregivers can support young people through the aftermath of this crisis.  

Roberta: The Los Angeles fires have upended the lives of tens of thousands of students and families, from the immediate and devastating loss of their homes, schools, and community spaces to the secondary impact of disruptions in employment and learning. Could you help us understand how young people process the loss, uncertainty, and change? 

Adriana: It’s an important moment to ground ourselves in what we know about adolescents. Now, as during COVID, adolescents whose families lost their homes or were otherwise impacted by the fires are feeling disconnection, disruption, and displacement. Everyone is dealing with the challenge of getting their basic needs met. But for young people, there are other developmental needs that can be critical to well-being, especially during challenging times. This includes connecting with their friends. The social connection at school is so important for young people. Young people also need support from adults during adolescence. And, because their parents and caregivers are also going through this crisis, they may be challenged to support the young people going through this trauma. 

The impact of the fires extends beyond those who were displaced or whose family members lost their jobs. The See Change Institute has reported on “eco-anxiety”—a chronic fear of environmental doom that can be triggered by extreme weather events such as the Los Angeles fires—and how different generations are grappling with mental health impacts from witnessing environmental destruction. It is top of mind for many young people who are seeing its impact across their community and state. It can be distressing for them to see their worries realized, and frustrating because they may feel like they are screaming about the climate crisis to people who are not listening. 

Roberta: Where do young people go when they are separated from the people they would usually turn to for support or when the adults in their lives may also be struggling? How can their educators and caregivers best support them? 

Adriana: This question really underscores the importance of making sure families and parents are supported during crises like the recent fires. Connections with caring adults are critical throughout adolescence but are particularly crucial through challenges and difficult times. But adults can only provide support when their own needs are met. A few things parents, other adult family members, teachers, and coaches can do to help support young people include checking in and really listening; maintaining routines like getting enough sleep and continuing activities that they enjoy; and making sure young people have access to support, which can mean talking to a counselor or spending time with close friends.  

Young people who are disconnected from their families, whose families are already struggling with financial or housing insecurity, or whose families don’t have access to government support due to their immigration status may need extra consideration from their community during this time.

Roberta: Even amidst their distress and uncertainty, many young people are taking it upon themselves to support the fire victims—from creating recovery funds to organizing pop-up stores for teen girls to begin to replace their clothes, make-up, and jewelry. Can you situate these efforts in the context of adolescent development? 

Adriana: These efforts are characteristic of young people and their growing sense of agency and leadership. My colleague and co-executive director at the UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent Dr. Andrew Fuligni writes about adolescents’ “need to contribute.” There’s a lot of research on prosocial behavior—including the need to contribute. The maturation of the social brain happens throughout the adolescent years, and greater engagement of the social brain directly ties to their increased orientation to others and their willingness to contribute to their well-being. As young people become more aware of their role within social structures, they are thinking about how to support other people, and despite their own stress, they are reaching out to see how they can help others. Contributing is also a way for young people to cultivate a sense of agency and purpose, which we know can support mental health.  

There’s power, too, in seeing the adults in their lives support one another—regardless of their economic means. A course at UCLA, “Philanthropy as Civic Engagement,” emphasizes this point. People find a way to contribute because the will is there. We just have to rethink what it is we have to give. To have the adults in their lives model philanthropic and other prosocial behavior is life changing for young people. 

These fires have been devastating for so many people, adults and youth alike. But the way we support young people now can help them learn that they are loved, that they are important, and that they are capable of navigating whatever the future holds.

Roberta: Thinking about the multitude of students’ needs right now, what are ways that schools and communities can hold young people and provide support? 

Adriana: It’s important for adults to acknowledge how they’re feeling—the fear, the sense of loss, including their loss of personal safety. Share a personal story of navigating difficult feelings related to the fires or another time of loss and difficulty with a young person so they understand we’re all experiencing this together. Managing their own strong emotions also helps adults be present for the feelings of the young people in their lives. And because adolescents are building their emotional regulation skills, adults can provide a powerful model for how to navigate challenges. 

It’s also important to find ways for young people to continue to connect with friends. Not only because peers provide a context for prosocial actions, but because friends are a source of support and joy for us during our adolescent years. 

Roberta: While it’s important to acknowledge the challenges and loss young people are experiencing, we also want to celebrate them and encourage fun and joy and discovery. How should we think about what can feel like conflicting priorities in this moment? 

Adriana: Schools and communities can also provide opportunities for youth to participate in helping others. Give them a task; have them contribute to the problem solving. Young people have skills with technology that can be directly used to support their families, for example. And let youth lead in terms of communicating how much they want to be involved and when they need to focus on something else for a while. Let them take a break from the seriousness of the situation when they need to. 

Roberta: Is there anything else you’d like to add? 

Adriana: Our adolescent years are such a dynamic period of development. We’re learning about the world, where we fit in, and how we can matter as we’re also learning how to get through real challenges. These fires have been devastating for so many people, adults and youth alike. But the way we support young people now can help them learn that they are loved, that they are important, and that they are capable of navigating whatever the future holds. 

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Multi-year collaborative seeks to transform the high school experience, expand opportunities after graduation, and reassert the essential role public education plays in preparing young people as informed and engaged participants in civic life.

San Francisco, CA – October 15, 2024 – The Stuart Foundation and the California Community Foundation are proud to announce a coalition of 11 donor partners — representing a broad range of regional, statewide, and national philanthropies — in the California Thriving Youth Initiative. The effort, designed to support the learning, leadership, and well-being of adolescents in California, is seeded with a $30 million commitment from the Stuart Foundation in support of the Initiative’s two complementary funds, the Purpose of Education Fund and the Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund. To ensure flexibility and responsiveness, the funds are by being managed by the California Community Foundation, as part of its ongoing education portfolio.

A Collective Effort to Support Adolescents

The California Thriving Youth Initiative aims to provide the state’s adolescents, especially those furthest from opportunity, with the conditions, opportunities, and support they need to thrive. In addition to strategic grantmaking to nonprofits and school systems, the initiative will also convene funder and grantee partners to support collective learning and will invest in narrative and storytelling to advance a positive, inclusive vision for public education. In doing so, the initiative seeks to deepen and quilt together the individual work of its funder and grantee partners.

As Sophie Fanelli, President of the Stuart Foundation, noted, “California is uniquely positioned to lead the way in reimagining public education and preparing young people for a future where their leadership, creativity, and civic engagement are essential. We are excited to join with funder and field partners who share our vision for equitable and thriving public education systems.”

Miguel A. Santana, President and Chief Executive Officer of the California Community Foundation, added, “Few things impact our community more than ensuring our young people are inspired to engage civically and are connected to opportunity, regardless of where they live, their backgrounds, or financial status. We are so proud to partner with the Stuart Foundation and our growing list of funders to ensure our teens, in LA and across the state, are connected to meaningful learning opportunities that prepare and empower them to be engaged members of our communities.”

Initial philanthropic partners investing in one or both funds of the California Thriving Youth Initiative include:

• The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation
• California Community Foundation
• College Futures Foundation
• Crankstart Foundation
• William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• Longview Foundation
• James B. McClatchy Foundation
• San Diego Foundation
• Schott Foundation for Public Education
• Spencer Foundation
• Stuart Foundation

Kent McGuire, Program Director of Education at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which is partnering with both of the California Thriving Youth Initiative funds, explained the Foundation’s investment this way, “Today’s students are building the communities we will all live in together in the future. They represent the heart of our multiracial, multilingual democracy, and our nation’s public schools are what support both their individual successes and our collective good. In this critical moment, when our public institutions are under attack, we need to do everything we can to support them.”

Purpose of Education Fund

The Purpose of Education Fund seeks to strengthen young people’s sense of belonging, purpose, leadership, and agency within our democracy. This fund reasserts the critical role public education plays in preparing adolescents for active participation in a diverse, multiracial democracy.

“Public education is one of the first places where young people experience democracy in action. It’s where they can engage with and shape their communities,” said Kathryn Bradley, Director of the Purpose of Education Fund. “Through this initiative, we are pursuing the means to cultivate youth voice and agency, ensuring students feel safe, heard, and empowered to bring their full selves to school as they develop civic knowledge and leadership.”

Jesse Hahnel, Program Director at Crankstart Foundation, one of the initial partners in the Purpose of Education Fund, noted, “Schools play a critical role preparing young people to be active members of our democracy: teaching how to participate and organize, instilling a belief in the importance of civic engagement, and fostering a love of democratic principles. Crankstart is excited to support the Purpose of Education Fund because nothing is more important than young people participating in and improving our democracy.“

Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund

The Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund will foster innovation and reimagine adolescent learning experiences that create increased opportunities for California’s diverse majority of young people to thrive academically, socially, and economically. The fund will leverage unprecedented state investments in adolescents — community schools, dual enrollment, and career pathways — and support equitable access to higher education and the workforce through innovative and equity-oriented high school redesign, college admission, and “earn and learn” practices.

“We are committed to rethinking what high school can look like to enable every student to reach their goals in postsecondary education and in life,” said Dr. Peter Ross, Managing Director of the Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund. “By focusing on engaged learning, critical thinking, and purposeful transitions into postsecondary education, work, and civic lives, we can ensure that all California students are prepared to pursue their goals and contribute meaningfully to their communities.”

Elizabeth González, Chief Program and Strategy Officer at College Futures Foundation, one of the initial partners in the Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund, noted, “We are excited for the launch of the Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund, particularly as it builds on work we have championed to expand access to postsecondary opportunities through strategies like dual enrollment. This partnership represents our shared values and commitment to creating lasting, equitable change and highlights the importance of trust and collaboration in philanthropy.”

Additional Partners Are Welcome

The Stuart Foundation, California Community Foundation, and their partners invite additional philanthropic organizations and donors to join this collective effort to support adolescent thriving. By investing in the growth, leadership, and well-being of young people, the Initiative is helping to build a foundation for a more just and vibrant future for California and supporting its next generation of leaders and their ability to contribute to the state and the country.

For more information about the Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund and the Purpose of Education Fund, please contact Roberta Furger at 510/703-6357, rfurger at stuart foundation dot org  

Additional Partner Quotes

Gerun Riley, President, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation: “The Broad Foundation has always believed that, in order for children and families to thrive, we must invest in public education. The Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund is designed to ensure young people are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and experiences needed to navigate and succeed in a rapidly evolving economy. As students look toward the future, they face institutional, environmental, and circumstantial challenges that make opportunity and mobility more elusive than ever. By working with other funders and leveraging state investments in public education, we can collaboratively integrate decades of connected work in California to better prepare young people for college, career, and civic life.”

Jennifer Manise, Executive Director, The Longview Foundation: “As we consider the global challenges facing our world today, the role of young people cannot be understated as we consider solutions. It is with great pleasure that the Longview Foundation partners with the Stuart Foundation in the inaugural debut of the Purpose of Education Fund. Together, we can equip youth to thrive and lead in the decades to come.”

Priscilla Enriquez, Chief Executive Officer, James B. McClatchy Foundation: “The Central Valley is the youngest region in the state, with higher proportions of youth and young adults than other parts of California. At the James B. McClatchy Foundation, we believe in inclusive leadership for the next generation of diverse stakeholders as civic leaders and decision-makers in their community, visibly fueling local democracy, local news coverage, and forging the future of the region. The current power structures will see a transition in leadership over the next generation as we collectively invest in our thriving multiracial democracy. This brighter future can only be secured by a number of factors, one of which is young people having space and seeing themselves reflected in the democratic process.”

Mark Stuart, President and CEO, San Diego Foundation: “This collaborative effort with our philanthropic partners will reimagine how young people learn in California and how we measure their knowledge. This will better prepare them for success in work and life, while supporting educational equity in San Diego County and throughout the state.”

Dr. John H. Jackson, President and CEO, Schott Foundation for Public Education: “Protecting our multiracial democracy is, at its core, about ensuring that all citizens have the ability to dream of the society they want, question how that society is structured, build upon those dreams, and bask in the freedoms afforded by that society. Public education is perhaps the most essential ingredient in ensuring that a citizenry has unfettered access to those critically important opportunities. That is why Schott is proud to support the POE fund.”

Na’ilah Nasir, President, Spencer Foundation: “We are happy to support the Stuart Foundation in their new initiative designed to reimagine education systems in the service of our democratic ideals. We are at a time when figuring out how we work together with educators, families, and communities to reimagine the purpose and experience of education, and to do so such that all young people and communities learn and thrive, is of the utmost importance to the future of our nation.”

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Those lines, first read by poet Amanda Gorman at the presidential inauguration on January 20, 2021, still resonate deeply today, reminding us of the tangle of courage and fear, brilliance and burdens that are the hallmarks of adolescence.

As a Foundation that devotes its resources, time, and energy to advancing adolescent thriving, we are unabashed champions of young people. We honor their contributions and creativity, their capacity for joy and their demand for justice, and their resolve to flourish, even while public systems – from education to workforce development to public health – are not typically designed to center their thriving.

If, as we believe, our collective charge is to reimagine these public systems, we need to start by deepening our understanding of how adolescents experience those systems. That’s why we began three years ago to work with researchers to gather public data about young people in California. What we have learned, however, is that it is much easier to ask questions about adolescents than it is to answer them. Information about academic performance exists as a disconnected patchwork of datasets, timeframes, and demographics. Information about the health and well-being of young people is similarly disjointed and incomplete. And while a growing number of researchers are studying how adolescents are contributing to the economy, to their schools, families, and communities, and to a democratic society, there is no go-to source where this information is gathered and curated.

In fact, much of what we see and hear about young people is framed by the challenges they face, rather than the hopeful present and future they are creating. This is, in part, a reflection of the questions we are collectively asking about young people. It is also a reflection of the measures by which we have defined success. For example, while we need to track important measures like chronic absenteeism, time in school alone fails to capture adolescents’ experiences, including whether they feel seen and safe, and whether they are happy, challenged, and inspired. We think all these measures matter.

… much of what we see and hear about young people is framed by the challenges they face, rather than the hopeful present and future they are creating.

Most critically, we believe young people themselves should be an integral part of the process of deciding how we measure their well-being, engagement, progress, and preparedness for the future. In California, we are fortunate to have statewide practices for engaging students, including some that were hard-fought by young people themselves. Unfortunately, however, most student engagement – on topics big and small – remains episodic and shallow. This is true in most schools and districts, and it is also the case among philanthropy, including the Stuart Foundation. Our commitment moving forward is to prioritize respectful, authentic, and sustained engagement with adolescents. This will be a central component of the Purpose of Education Fund and a commitment that will extend across all our work.

I don’t pretend to have the answers for deep engagement with adolescents. But I do know we have some systems in place that can be leveraged and that more opportunities can be identified – but only if we make listening to and partnering with young people a collective priority.

That starts with curiosity about young people themselves. And it starts with a recognition of the enormous contributions they already make – and their capacity for so much more. With this in mind, we offer a new resource: Adolescents in California: Creating the Condition for Thriving. Rather than a deep dive into all the available data, it is, first and foremost, a celebration of young people and their many roles and contributions. Think of it as an invitation to a conversation about how we collectively create the conditions for thriving.

I welcome your thoughts, additions, and provocations.

Best viewed in full-screen mode.

The post Adolescents in California: Creating the Conditions for Thriving appeared first on Stuart Foundation.

Today we are announcing the California Thriving Youth Initiative, a collaborative effort of the Stuart Foundation and the California Community Foundation (CCF). The Initiative is seeded with a $30 million investment from the Stuart Foundation and is enhanced by investments from a diverse group of regional, statewide, and national funders. Designed to meet this unique moment of both opportunity and challenge for today’s adolescents, the initiative is comprised of two complementary funds, both housed at CCF:

• The Purpose of Education Fund (POE) will focus on strengthening adolescents’ sense of belonging, purpose, and agency in their schools and communities. Through the Fund, we are committed to asserting the essential role that public education plays in sustaining a vibrant multiracial democracy and affirming adolescents as leaders and stewards of these civic environments.

• The Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund (YTL) will capitalize on the state’s unprecedented investments in community schools, dual enrollment, college and career pathways, and in related systems to reimagine adolescent learning, supports, and opportunities to better prepare all young people to pursue their goals for college, career, and civic life.

At a time when national education debates have become increasingly polarized and politicized, California continues to advance and invest in policy and practice shifts rooted in a commitment to equity and to supporting a whole child education – based on an understanding that young people succeed academically when we attend to the full range of their developmental needs. We believe philanthropy has the opportunity and responsibility to meet these commitments with catalytic investments of our own. We believe in the talents, leadership, and promise of California’s adolescents – the majority of whom are BIPOC youth – and that our investments can multiply their opportunities and, in the process, help our neighborhoods, schools, and cities thrive. We also know that if our economy is to become more equitable, the planet healthier, and democracy stronger, young people must lead the way.

Over the coming weeks and months, you’ll hear more from us and our partners about this exciting Initiative. For now, we invite you to join us in celebrating and investing in today’s adolescents – the leaders, creators, and visionaries who will propel California into a more just and sustainable future.

To learn more, visit: California Thriving Youth Initiative

Sophie Fanelli is the president of the Stuart Foundation and Miguel A. Santana is the president and chief executive officer of the California Community Foundation.

The post Advancing the Leadership and Learning of California Youth appeared first on Stuart Foundation.

Roberta: The Purpose of Education Fund is launching at a time when many are concerned about the durability of democracy in the United States. Can you situate the initiative in this context?

Kathryn: Public schools should be the place where young people learn about and practice democracy. Schools are one of the first and primary spaces where young people are part of a public system and where they experience whether or not they have a role in shaping that system, so it works for them. In the best examples, school is also where young people, through the curriculum, wrestle with pressing issues in the world and in their community. Through action civics projects, for example, they can identify a concern related to education or environmental policies and then explore strategies for addressing it. In these cases, through the school structures and through the curriculum, young people are learning about and practicing democracy. They are developing a sense of agency and shaping an image of themselves as members of a community, whether it’s their school or city.

We know, though, that these experiences are not common for most students. The Purpose of Education Fund seeks to change this reality by reimagining and reasserting the role of public education in promoting civic leadership and democratic participation. This includes creating the conditions for young people, especially students of color, who comprise the majority of public-school students in California, to practice civic engagement and democracy inside and outside of school and school systems. That means expanding who has access to action civics and similar learning opportunities. It also means shifting school practices and culture so that schools are places that invite and promote critical thinking, cultivate youth voice and agency, and create the conditions for young people to feel safe and free to bring their full selves and identities to school. 

Roberta: What excites you about the new initiative? What do you want others to be excited about?

Kathryn: I’m excited that the fund will reach young people in the different places and activities where they spend time. That includes supporting young people and the adults who work with them inside of school, through their participation in youth organizing outside of school, and through creative expression that is rooted in, reflects, and affirms their identities and background.

We aren’t just going it alone. We’re committed to building solid, trusting partnerships with other funders and with the field.

Through this initiative, we can create more opportunities for more young people to engage in the kinds of experiences that lead them to know they have the skills, knowledge, experiences, and support to shape their life and impact their family, school, community, and world. That’s exciting.

How we do this work is also exciting to me. We aren’t just going it alone. We’re committed to building solid, trusting partnerships with other funders and with the field and to draw on different experiences and knowledge to shape and guide this work.

Roberta: How have your own experiences – as a student, a teacher, and an auntie, for example – impacted how you think about this work?

Kathryn: As a student, I saw that educators and community members around me were civically engaged in activities like working at polling stations, engaging in dialogue about democracy, and running before- and after-school programs to support working parents and caregivers. This behavior was reinforced by the adults in my school, who saw and knew me and my family. They asked my opinion and selected me for leadership and speaking opportunities.

I understand now that my opinion was sought out and I was seen as a leader in part because I was a compliant student. Later, as a teacher in the same community where I grew up and now as an auntie to my nieces and nephews, I am motivated to honor young people’s unique interests, personalities, motivations, and approaches to learning as necessary leadership assets that contribute to the fabric of our family, school, and broader communities. All students deserve to have their opinions heard, and to have leadership opportunities. These opportunities can’t be reserved for the students who don’t challenge conventions and norms. I am excited to help create the opportunity for the field to come together and think about how we do school differently, so every young person is heard, valued, and validated and sees themselves as an active contributor to society, because of how the system is designed.

Roberta: How does the work of the Purpose of Education Fund connect to the Foundation’s broader goal of supporting adolescent thriving?

Kathryn: I think of thriving as a state of being that extends across experiences and schooling and continues after high school. It’s an opportunity to explore and believe you have power over what your future can look like. You have the freedom to dream. Far too often, Black and Brown students and students furthest from opportunity are told what and how they need to learn, what they’re going to do, and how to be. At the most basic level, this work is about changing that dynamic. It’s about creating the conditions in which every young person has the freedom to dream, and then providing them with the appropriate supports to actualize those dreams.

Roberta: What are you most curious about with this new initiative and work?

Kathryn: I want to understand what thriving means to young people. What does their school experience need to look like to support their thriving? How do communities support their thriving? Is what we, as adults, think of thriving and agency the same as what young people think? I’m also curious about how we collaborate with young people in honest and authentic ways and how we create shared ownership and integrate what we’re collectively learning into what we’re building. How can we create spaces for learning between schools and out-of-school organizations, particularly around relationship building, which is often built into the programming for groups outside of school in ways that don’t always happen in school. How can strong, trusting relationships between young people and adults be the foundation for everything else?

Roberta: Grantmaking will be a component of your work. What other types of strategies will you employ to advance the Fund’s goals?

Kathryn: Convenings and storytelling will be important parts of the work. I hope by bringing people together across regions, roles, and spheres of influence we can build deeper relationships, understanding, and alignment. Hopefully, new narratives and strategies for advancing an affirmative vision of the public education system will emerge and spread – a vision that is rooted in a belief that systems and communities should be organized to support and nourish young people to bloom and thrive, like beautiful sunflowers.

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