America Forward Executive Director Deborah Smolover released the following statement today:

“America Forward was encouraged to see today’s announcement naming Cecilia Muñoz as the new White House Domestic Policy Advisor.  We are deeply appreciative of the broad legacy of passion for domestic policy issues left by Melody Barnes and feel confident that Ms. Muñoz’s dedication to creating opportunity throughout her career makes her well positioned to build upon Ms. Barnes’ achievements in this vital role.

“Ms. Muñoz assumes this position at a time where communities across the country remain in great need of results to local challenges in education, youth development, and career readiness.  The social entrepreneurs with whom we work have much to share as it relates to achieving results at the local level and we look forward to collaborating with Ms. Muñoz to identify opportunities to both expand existing innovative initiatives at the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Department of Education, as well as establish new innovative efforts across governmental agencies.”

“America Forward was thrilled to see Forbes Magazine recognize the outstanding work of 30 of the nation’s leading social entrepreneurs in its recent ‘Impact 30.’ As government at all levels struggles with decreasing funding in the face of growing challenges in areas related to education, youth development, healthcare and environmental impact, it is these leaders who are providing the innovative solutions and pathways forward necessary to achieve success.

We are particularly proud of the work of Rafael Alvarez of Genesys Works, Richard Barth of the KIPP Foundation, Jean Desravines of New Leaders, Wendy Kopp of Teach For America, J. B. Schramm of College Summit, and Jill Vialet of Playworks, all members of the America Forward coalition. The universe of social entrepreneurs is wide and diverse and active in communities across the country. Their work is integral to the future success of our nation and we are pleased to see the impact of even a small percentage of those leading innovators highlighted by Forbes magazine. We look forward to the continued progress enabled by these leaders and the future successes in addressing our nation’s challenges enabled by their work in the years to come.”

America Forward Executive Director Deborah Smolover released the following statement today on the Senate HELP Committee’s passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization:

“The America Forward Education Coalition is pleased with the Senate HELP Committee’s decision to vote a bipartisan education bill out of committee.  This bill is a critical first step in moving education reform forward.  We are grateful to Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Enzi and HELP Committee Senators who voted in favor of passage for their leadership in the effort to ensure all of our nation’s children receive a quality education.

“As nonprofit organizations who work as partners to schools in communities throughout the country to improve educational outcomes for our nation’s students, we support provisions throughout the bill that incentivize partnerships with effective nonprofit organizations.  We also support competitive funding streams that have been included like Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation and Promise Neighborhoods.  While we will continue to work to ensure these vital provisions remain in the bill as it is considered on the Senate floor, we still have hopes to improve the bill by ensuring that states have a comprehensive accountability system that is designed to close achievement gaps and move all students toward college readiness.

“We applaud the Senate HELP Committee’s action to move this bipartisan bill, demonstrating what is possible when we put politics aside and focus on the urgent needs of our country’s students.”

The Coalition – which represents 25 of the nation’s leading innovators in the education sector in an unprecedented partnership – sent a letter to Sen. Harkin and Sen. Enzi this week thanking them for their bipartisan leadership on reauthorizing ESEA. This letter comes on the heels of months of work around ESEA reauthorization by the Coalition.

For a recap of America Forward’s work on ESEA, please click on the links below.

• America Forward Education Coalition letter to Sen. Harkin and Sen. Enzi
• List of member organizations in the America Forward Education Coalition
• America Forward Education Coalition Program Locations (map)
• America Forward Policy Platform on ESEA: Competition, Flexibility, and Data-Drive Results
• America Forward Letter to Congress on ESEA
• Press Release: America Forward Education Coalition Grows Beyond Education Allies
• Press Release: Top Education Reformers Join Forces to Create New Education Coalition

List of America Forward Education Coalition organizations:

ACCESS
Admission Possible
America’s Promise Alliance
AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation
Be the Change, Inc.
BUILD
The Children’s Aid Society
Citizen Schools
City Year
Civic Ventures
College Summit
Commongood Careers
Genesys Works
HopeLab
“I Have a Dream” Foundation
Jumpstart
KIPP Foundation
New Leaders for New Schools
NFTE
Playworks
Public Allies
Save the Children
Teach for America
Turnaround for Children
Year Up

“America Forward is thrilled with President Obama’s announcement of intent to nominate Wendy Spencer as the Chief Executive Officer for the Corporation for National and Community Service.  Ms. Spencer has demonstrated a career-long dedication to providing solutions to local challenges in communities across the country through her work in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.  It is this broad base of experience that make Ms. Spencer uniquely qualified to lead the Corporation for National and Community Service.  Her work on President George W. Bush’s Council on Service and Civic Participation as well as her leadership of Volunteer Florida, the Governor’s Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service, are proof positive that Ms. Spencer has the executive experience necessary to successfully champion the numerous bipartisan initiatives at the Corporation for National and Community Service, including the Social Innovation Fund.

“Ms. Spencer’s capable leadership is welcomed by the America Forward coalition as we continue to work to demonstrate the importance of investing in the proven solutions of results-driven nonprofit organizations across the country to more effectively and efficiently address local challenges.  We look forward to working with Ms. Spencer in her new role as the head of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Jonathan Greenblatt, the Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation, and the Administration to identify further opportunities to grow the impact of effective nonprofit organizations.”

The text of the letter appears below in full.

Dear Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Enzi,

We applaud your efforts to reform our nation’s education system. Your joint leadership is a hallmark of success—demonstrating what is possible when we put politics aside and focus on the urgent needs of our country. Introduction of this bill is a major accomplishment particularly at a moment in time when bipartisanship is needed most.

The America Forward Education Coalition, made up of 25 major nonprofit organizations, represents the nation’s leading innovators in the education sector. We are in thousands of schools across the country and serve large numbers of low-income students. Our coalition members are united in an effort to elevate the role of high-quality nonprofit providers with demonstrated results in education. Our coalition is in strong support of your comprehensive, reform minded approach to the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Real reform can only happen through the legislative process. We know that such an approach is not immediate, and are committed to long term, systemic reform.

We have advocated for the principles outlined in our policy platform, “America Forward on ESEA: Competition, Flexibility, and Data-Driven Results” to be included in the reauthorization since the inception of our coalition. Our member organizations have been fighting for these principles for many years and we are very pleased to see them reflected in this reauthorization proposal. It ensures all students have effective teachers and leaders, expands the number of high quality public charter schools and it increases local flexibility to allow for locally determined solutions. This law, if enacted, will spur entrepreneurship and reward success by making catalytic investments in innovations that work for the academic achievement of all children. The policies included in your bill will ensure that successes experienced by nonprofit organizations on the ground will be supported, incentivized, and encouraged. We are pleased to see disaggregated data and transparency as principles in the bill, but we hope that you will work to ensure that states have a comprehensive accountability system that is designed to close achievement gaps and move all students toward college readiness as part of the reauthorization of ESEA.

We know that this is just the beginning of a long process to bring the principles of this legislation to fruition. We stand ready to work with you, support the bill, and commit to bringing our combined voices to the table as you work with the House of Representatives and the Administration to enact a bill as soon as possible.

Thank you for your commitment to pushing for reauthorization of ESEA at a moment in time when it appeared stalled. You have demonstrated critical leadership and bipartisanship and we pledge to work tirelessly together to make this a reality for our students.

Sincerely,

The America Forward Education Coalition

“The Social Innovation Fund is an example of effective and efficient investment of taxpayer dollars.  By supporting local organizations that have identified effective and innovative solutions to community challenges, the two year old fund has demonstrated an ability to create new partnerships across the private, public and nonprofit sectors, leveraging public funding 3 to 1.  America Forward is extremely disappointed that the House has eliminated funding for this groundbreaking initiative as well as national service programs including AmeriCorps and Learn & Serve America, initiatives which are integral to providing the human capital necessary to implement the innovative methods of effective organizations across the country.  We will work with our diverse coalition members to continue to educate our nation’s policymakers, particularly Republican leadership, on the alignment between the principles embedded in the Social Innovation Fund and those cited as central to the Republican view of the role of government.  Continued support for the Social Innovation Fund and Corporation for National and Community Service as a whole is central to effective local problem solving.”

America Forward was pleased to see President Obama’s announcement of Jonathan Greenblatt as the new Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation.  Mr. Greenblatt joins the White House with a strong history in both government and social entrepreneurship.  We believe this dual experience will help him to highlight the important contributions the social innovation community has to make in the Administration’s efforts to strengthen our nation.  We are deeply appreciative of the work of the inaugural Director of the office, Sonal Shah, and feel confident that Mr. Greenblatt will build on the strong foundation she created.

We are hopeful that in his new role, Mr. Greenblatt will work with the social innovation community to both expand existing innovative initiatives at the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Department of Education, as well as establish new innovative efforts in other agencies within government.  The social innovation community welcomes this bright and capable new leader.  We look forward to working with him to greater utilize the experience and collective learning from the field at the national level.

We appreciate the Administration’s decision to grant states waivers from outdated provisions of No Child Left Behind as an interim step to enacting much needed education reform legislation. This action moves above the political fray and makes our children’s education a national priority.

As the waiver package is developed, we encourage strong accountability and transparency in exchange for flexibility. We will be making recommendations to Administration officials to include incentives for nonprofit partnerships and high-quality competition to reward success. States should be encouraged to expand the efforts of innovative nonprofit organizations that have built strong records of impact in partnerships with schools.

While we recognize the waiver process is a necessary bridge between an outdated law and national legislation that meets the needs of all students, we will continue to work diligently with Congress and the Administration to open the doors to new innovation and reforms at the national level.