To date, the Collaborative for Education Organizing (CEO) has awarded just under $1.4 million to area nonprofits focused on empowering students, parents, teachers and community members to be a voice for education reform in the District of Columbia. CEO and its nonprofit partners believe that those directly impacted by education reform are the experts with the direct experience to provide the solutions.  CEO is working to empower community members to hold the system accountable and bring them to "the table" with political leaders to inform decisions on education reform. 

In 2010, CEO continued to support the work of five nonprofits, collectively known as Communities for Education Organizing, by awarding $450,000 in grants to the following nonprofit organizations:

DC Language Access Coalition (www.dclanguageaccess.org) empowers and organizes limited English-proficient youth in DC Public Schools and public charter schools to enhance language access for immigrant families and improve the quality of, and access to, education for immigrant students.  

DC VOICE (www.dcvoice.org) mobilizes a broad constituency of community members to produce an annual report card on the preparedness and quality of school.

EMPOWER DC (www.empowerdc.org) seeks to engage parents in defining, advocating for, and monitoring the implementation of a Parental Bill of Rights for DC Public School parents.

STEP Up DC (www.stepupdc.net) works to use youth organizing and direct actions to win policy change geared towards addressing high truancy and dropout rates in DC.

Youth Education Alliance (www.youtheducationalliance.org) organizes youth to improve the guidance counselor system in DC Public Schools by both increasing the number of available counselors and improving the quality of service young people receive.

These five groups work on both an individual and collective level to bring authentic community voice to the dialogue on education reform. On April 17, 2010 the groups petitioned and won a special Saturday DC City Council hearing on education, bringing over 200 constituents and members to be represented and give testimony. The following day,  Communities for Education Organizing convened a Candidates Forum to hear from Mayoral, Council Chairman and At-Large Councilmember candidates about their plans for education in the District. At the end of the meeting they received a pledge from all candidates present to continue to meet with community members on a regular basis.

To learn more about the work of CEO, and how you can support the effort, contact The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region at (202( 263-4765 or bmurphy@cfncr.org.