We are advocating for equitable funding policies and systems change to ensure all youth in Fairfield County have access to quality education and career development opportunities.

We support the advocacy organizations we fund by submitting public testimony that advances their policy agendas, and by spreading their important messages. In the 2023 Connecticut Legislative Session, we supported Senate Bill 1216, which pushed for school meals for all children to improve education and health outcomes. In 2009, we worked with ConnCAN to support a law that offers an alternative route for people to become certified as school principals, a measure that passed in a later legislative session.

We participate in the Governor’s Workforce Council, working through its active sub-committees to influence recommendations.

Through public statements and opinion pieces for the media, we’re also making our position known on important issues around education equity and pathways to sustainable careers. For instance:

• In February 2022, we wrote an op-ed for the CT Mirror about making education more equitable in Fairfield County.
• In September 2022, we authored a piece for the Stamford Advocate on why equitable education is important for our business community.
• In May 2023, we joined other community foundations and health organizations to co-sign an op-ed for the Hartford Courant urging the state to take action to help kids in poverty achieve better health, education and lifetime earnings. The op-ed made the case for giving low-income families cash through programs that have a proven impact to improve outcomes, like a state Child Tax Credit.

We develop and fund transformative, scalable youth education and career development programs that make an impact for low-income and young people of color. For instance, in 2017, we started the Thrive by 25 Career Connections program with Norwalk Community College and NCC Foundation. It linked opportunity youth in Fairfield County – teens and young adults who were disconnected from school and work – to high-demand healthcare jobs. The program helped more than 50 students, aged 18-25 with a GED or high school diploma, prepare for healthcare careers.

In 2008, we partnered with Norwalk Community College to pilot the highly successful Family Economic Security Program (FESP), which aided low-income, single parents in securing resources for family economic stability. The program helped more than 100 adult students overcome challenges, earn degrees and start meaningful careers by providing wrap-around services that included career coaching, mentoring and scholarships. From 2015-2021, we expanded the program to Housatonic Community College, helping over 400 students. The program has now been adopted by CT State Community College Norwalk, CT State Community College Housatonic, and CT State Community College Gateway.

In 2009, we worked with four urban districts and the Connecticut Center for School Change to co-create the Urban School Leaders Fellowship, the first fellowship program to train future principals and assistant principals. We graduated 63 fellows, with 16 getting promotions in their districts of Bridgeport, Danbury, Norwalk, and Stamford. A 2018 update found that 45 percent of the fellows later became principals; 12 percent became assistant principals; 15 percent were in central office leadership; and 26 percent remained in classrooms.

The Community Foundation also manages a large scholarship program for high school seniors and full-time college students. We manage over 150 funds established by individuals and organizations, and give out more than $1 million in scholarships each year to support Fairfield County students in pursuing a college education.

We build cross-sector partnerships like the Fairfield County Business Collaborative for Education Equity (BCEE) to work toward systems change solutions. Established in partnership with the Community Foundation in 2020, the BCEE aims to reduce educational gaps for vulnerable students in Fairfield County, from pre-K through high school and beyond.

BCEE members collaborate to give grants to nonprofits in the Greater Bridgeport, Danbury, Norwalk, and Stamford regions that support early childhood education, college readiness, parent involvement, and youth empowerment. The BCEE also encourages employees to volunteer and contribute to the community.

• In the three years since its launch, the BCEE has raised almost $1.5 million from its members and awarded grants for summer learning and meals that benefitted over 4,600 youth aged 5-25. Most of the students helped were Black or Latino. About 74 percent saw better academic results, and maintained at least a B average. 80 percent of those in summer programs recovered academic credits. And almost 85 percent of youth who received meals got better access to fresh fruits and vegetables, reducing food insecurities for nearly 90 percent.

• Through a $100,000 match offer to Donors Choose, the BCEE helped 188 teachers fund projects in 54 schools in Bridgeport and Norwalk, benefiting almost 43,000 students. Staff members from companies participating in the BCEE also volunteered to help Bridgeport Public Schools set up 4,000 student laptops.

In 2023, the BCEE teamed up with McKinsey & Company and nonprofit partners The Carver and Norwalk ACTS to study workforce development for Norwalk’s young people. Building Tomorrow’s Workforce: Equitable Education and Career Pathways for Opportunity Youth in Fairfield County identifies improved ways to help opportunity youth and businesses overcome challenges in the workforce system by bringing together local nonprofits, employers, schools, and the government to work as a team with a shared plan.

We strategically invest in and provide technical support to impactful organizations working at the systems-level to achieve educational equity, building strong and lasting connections with organizations that help young people in Fairfield County overcome challenges. We focused on work that:

• Involves more young people in summer education programs to prevent them from falling behind
• Increases the number of students who graduate from high school
• Helps more young people find jobs in the summer or part-time during the school year
• Encourages more youth to go to college or training programs after high school
• Supports programs that teach young people skills for future jobs

We have a long history of making impactful investments in this area, historically under our Thrive by 25 program. From 2016 to 2020 we gave 242 grants, totaling $2 .77 million, to organizations that offer programs and opportunities in summer learning, enrichment, and employment.

• More than 24,600 young people benefited from these grants
• Around 4,200 students avoided losing ground in their learning during the summer through these education programs
• Over 1,430 youth got involved in summer employment opportunities.

We have also started and supported local cradle-to-career projects, which work to support kids from when they’re born until they begin their careers, with the goal of improving educational and career outcomes.

• In 2011, we introduced Norwalk ACTS’ strategic planning team to the concept of Collective Impact, which takes a teamwork approach to achieve results. We also connected them to the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network. Norwalk ACTS contracted with StriveTogether to develop a roadmap to success; and soon after, Bridgeport Prospers and Stamford Cradle-to-Career began using similar models.

• We award competitive grants to all three groups, which work to change current systems through an approach that is informed by data and the principles of Collective Impact.

• We also helped create data tables of all three groups’ initiatives; and served on committees to support the work of Norwalk ACTS, Bridgeport Prospers, and Stamford Cradle-to-Career.

We steward the donor-advised fund that fuels the Beard Excellence in Teaching Award, established by the Beard family as one of the largest teacher awards in the country. Each year, two outstanding teachers in the Bridgeport Public School district receive an unrestricted cash award of $20,000 each. All award finalists participate in a Superintendents’ Roundtable to share their ideas and advice, and help provide teacher-led professional development throughout the district.

When COVID-19 hit, we started the Fairfield County Covid-19 Resiliency Fund and raised more than $2 .7 million from local donors to help people affected by the pandemic. Grants from the Fund were quickly awarded to local groups, including $311,000 that was distributed to help over 34,000 students in Fairfield County with education-related services.

Through public education, narrative change and investment in data and research, we are building public will for equity in education and career development. For instance, in 2008, we wrote and published School Leadership Matters: The Importance of School Leadership, the first-ever report on how school leaders are chosen in Fairfield County, and problems in the school leadership field in Connecticut. The report was widely distributed, with all Fairfield County legislators receiving a hard copy, and was covered by the media.

Through our Fund for Women & Girls, we commission frequent research on the state of young girls and their families in Fairfield County, including their access to quality education and career development opportunities. These reports have included:

Holding Up Half the Sky (2007)
The Power of Investing in Girls (2009)
The Full Circle of Women and Girls in Fairfield County (2013)
The Evolution, Expansion and Evaluation of the Family Economic Security Program (October 2016)
Count Her In (2019)

In 2015, we commissioned the report Youth Opportunity in Fairfield County with CT Voices for Children to explore how young people living in our region’s different cities and towns might face different barriers to success.