Education

A high-quality education is essential to lasting improvements in the lives of children and youth from low-income families in the Greater Washington region. The Meyer Foundation supports a broad range of work to ensure that young people graduate from high school and go on to earn post-secondary credentials and enter the skilled workforce.

Our grants in the Education program area support organizations that are working toward the following outcomes:

• Successful Transitions: Children from low-income families receive high-quality early childhood education and enter kindergarten ready to learn. Youth in the middle grades and high school receive relevant, rigorous instruction and comprehensive supports in school and beyond the classroom to help them make successful transitions to high school and post-secondary education.

• Multiple Pathways: Youth from low-income families have access to high-quality, diverse options to help them earn a high school diploma, receive a post-secondary credential with value in the labor market, and enter the skilled workforce.

• Education Reform: Children and youth from low-income families benefit from improvements in K-12 public education in the District of Columbia and Prince George's County, Maryland.

What We Fund

To achieve these outcomes, Meyer supports:

• Youth-focused organizations that provide long-term, high-quality out-of-school-time youth development programming to middle and high school youth. We give priority consideration to organizations that offer access to comprehensive supports; build leadership skills, strengthen academic skills, and develop creativity; and track participant outcomes with quantitative and qualitative measures.
• Organizations that help youth transition successfully to high school and succeed in ninth grade.
• Organizations that support youth who are off-track to high school graduation, or who have dropped out of school, by connecting them to supportive services, education, and employment options.
• Organizations that introduce young people to career options, provide workforce preparation, and connect youth to employment that helps them learn valuable skills and earn meaningful wages.
• Organizations that increase college-readiness among youth from low-income families and support their efforts to complete college.
• Advocacy, policy development, and strategies to provide youth with more options to help them achieve a high school diploma and a post-secondary credential.
• Organizations focused on transforming teaching, learning, school leadership, and management in public and public charter schools.
• Nonprofit organizations and coalitions that support education reform advocacy, parent engagement, policy development, fiscal analysis, and longitudinal education data analysis to inform appropriate supports, interventions, and innovation.
• Nonprofit organizations and collaborative efforts focused on improving quality, delivery, and access to early childhood education. Efforts may include professional development, curriculum development, use of data, and advocacy. Although we do not provide ongoing operating support to early childhood development centers, we may provide one-time or periodic funding to help centers become accredited, undertake a significant quality improvement effort, or manage key moments in their organizational development.

What We Do Not Fund

• Scholarships or financial assistance
• Short-term or seasonal programs
• Individual public or private schools
• Organizations that provide out-of-school-time programs solely for elementary school children
• PTAs