SUCCESS ACADEMY ANNOUNCES $25 MILLION GIFT FROM CITADEL FOUNDER AND CEO KENNETH C. GRIFFIN
**For Immediate Release April 25, 2023**
Ann Powell, 646-894-6407
SUCCESS ACADEMY ANNOUNCES $25 MILLION GIFT FROM CITADEL FOUNDER AND CEO KENNETH C. GRIFFIN
Funding to Bring Educational Excellence to 10,000 More Children from NYC’s Most Under-Resourced Neighborhoods
New York — Success Academy today announced that Citadel founder and CEO Kenneth C. Griffin has made a $25 million gift to expand educational opportunity for 10,000 children in New York City. The gift will increase the capacity of Success Academy by more than 50% over the next five years, allowing more children than ever before to benefit from Success Academy’s evidence-based approach to K-12 education.
“We are profoundly grateful for this generous support, and for Ken Griffin’s belief that every child deserves access to great schooling,” said Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academy. “So many poor children are left out of the American Dream because they are assigned to a failing school. We share Ken’s vision of the future for our nation, where every child, regardless of their circumstances, has access to a great school.”
“I am thrilled to support Success Academy’s work to expand access to high-quality education for thousands of students across New York City,” said Griffin. “I passionately believe that a good education is the on-ramp to the American Dream.”
With an enrollment of 20,000, 95% of whom are children of color, admitted by random public lottery, Success Academy schools are among the best in New York State, regularly outperforming affluent suburban and gifted-and-talented schools. In national championships for debate and chess — activities traditionally dominated by selective private and public schools — Success Academy students have consistently placed among the top winners. For the sixth consecutive year, 100% of Success Academy seniors have been accepted to four-year colleges and universities, with about 60% headed to selective and highly selective institutions.
Griffin’s most recent gift builds on his longstanding commitment to unlocking the transformative power of education – and to Success Academy itself. In 2014, Griffin made a $10 million gift to Success Academy that funded the opening of three new public middle schools and sustained the growth of others, allowing thousands of New York City children to access high-quality educational opportunities.
Griffin is among Success Academy’s most generous donors – and one of the country’s leading philanthropists. Ken’s commitment to data-driven solutions continues to create stronger communities today, particularly through his work to bridge the digital divide and deliver life-changing educational opportunities. In 2020, as schools closed their doors, Ken helped convene public and private partners to provide free high-speed broadband access to over 400,000 low-income students across Chicago and Miami, and supported national initiatives aimed at closing the internet affordability gap for more than 18 million households across America. Ken has supported work to scale high-impact tutoring programs and has funded transformative scholarships that have supported thousands of low-income and first-generation college students. Through his continued philanthropy, Ken is focused on achieving tangible progress towards enabling longer, healthier lives, and equipping our next generation of leaders with the tools needed to succeed.
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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 49 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.
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