BLOOMBERG PHILANTHROPIES ANNOUNCES $100 MILLION GIFT TO SUCCESS ACADEMY TO ADVANCE EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE & EQUITY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Laura WIlker, 332-895-2237
Ann Powell, 646-894-6407
BLOOMBERG PHILANTHROPIES ANNOUNCES $100 MILLION GIFT TO SUCCESS ACADEMY TO ADVANCE EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE & EQUITY
Gift Will Support Transformational K-12 Program and Campus in Nation’s Poorest Congressional District
New York, NY, April 25, 2022 — Today, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a $100 million gift to support the work of Success Academy in creating great schools and expanding opportunities for all children. One of the largest gifts ever made to public education, this funding will aid Success Academy in driving its most important initiative to date: fundamentally reimagining what K-12 education can be, and bringing that vision to life in a landmark K-12 campus in the South Bronx. Pending NYC Board of Standards and Appeals approval, the building will serve 2,400 students across elementary, middle, and high schools. Bloomberg Philanthropies also announced a gift of $65 million in new funding, and $35 million of previously unannounced support, to Harlem Children’s Zone’s Promise Academy.
As Michael R. Bloomberg wrote in the Wall Street Journal last year when he announced Bloomberg Philanthropies’ $750 million effort to create more high-quality charter school seats, American public education is broken. “Unless we have the courage to rebuild public education from the bottom up, we will continue to doom our most vulnerable to a life of poverty and, in too many cases, incarceration.”
To address this challenge, Success Academy is working backwards from a vision of true college preparedness to create a new, more rigorous, and uniquely integrated K-12 model that will far exceed what has been accomplished to date. Prioritizing the habits, sophisticated thinking skills, intrinsic motivation, and knowledge application necessary to thrive at a highly selective college and beyond, this breakthrough program aims to fully prepare all students, regardless of their neighborhood, race, or family income. Located in the nation’s poorest congressional district, the new K-12 campus will be the embodiment of this vision and will allow external educators, elected officials, policy makers, and the media to see, experience, and understand the interconnectedness of each critical stage of a child’s 13-year educational trajectory.
With 47 schools, K-12, educating 20,000 students, Success Academy has succeeded at district-level reform. In a city where two-thirds of Black and brown children cannot read or do math at grade level, Success Academy has transformed student outcomes, empowering NYC’s most vulnerable students — 94% are children of color and 78% low-income — to achieve outstanding academic results: 99% meeting math standards and 90% reading standards; 100% college acceptance among its five graduating classes, with 60% attending selective and highly selective institutions, and 71% receiving at least one offer meeting full financial need.
Because politicians refuse to lift New York’s charter cap, the very children most in need of the educational excellence this gift affords are being locked out.
“A champion of ed reform and an advocate of charter schools and parent choice, Mike Bloomberg dramatically changed what was possible in public education in this city,” said Moskowitz. “We are deeply grateful for his generosity and for his belief that an excellent education is every child’s right, not a privilege of the few.”
“Harlem Children’s Zone and Success Academy have both shown what’s possible when we put students first, set high expectations, and hold everyone accountable for results,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and 108th mayor of New York City. “This investment will help both organizations build on their extraordinary track records of achievement, open doors of opportunity for more children, and continue to raise the bar for schools around the city and the country. Over the past two years of school closures and remote instruction, the crisis in public education has grown even worse, especially for low-income students who were already falling behind. Expanding access to high-quality charter schools has never been more important, and our foundation is going to do our part.”
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ABOUT SUCCESS ACADEMY
Since its founding in 2006, Success Academy has created the highest-performing public school district in New York state, and a national model of access to excellence for children across all demographics. We currently enroll over 20,000 children in 47 elementary, middle, and high schools. The majority of Success Academy scholars are children of color from low-income households in disadvantaged neighborhoods, admitted through a random public lottery. Our distinctive K-12 approach, designed as a holistic 13-year educational trajectory, leads to student outcomes that outpace even those in affluent suburban schools. To date, 100% of SA’s graduates have been accepted to college, many to highly selective institutions. Most are the first in their families to have the opportunity for higher education. We regularly share our curriculum and methods with educators and school leaders across the country. By scaling excellence and reigniting the civic mission of education, Success Academy is leading a movement to reinvent public education. For more information about Success Academy, go to successacademies.org.
ABOUT BLOOMBERG PHILANTHROPIES
Bloomberg Philanthropies invests in 941 cities and 173 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s giving, including his foundation, corporate, and personal philanthropy. This work spans the Arts, Education, the Environment, Government Innovation and Public Health. It also includes Founder’s Projects that reflect Mike’s commitment to preventing gun violence, promoting women’s economic development, and accelerating the pace of Black wealth accumulation in the United States; and Bloomberg Associates, a pro bono consultancy that works in cities around the world. In 2021, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $1.66 billion. For more information, please visit bloomberg.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.
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