Today, Algebra 1 serves as a gatekeeper, rather than a gateway, to future success. In the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s first ever U.S. education Grand Challenge, we sought to identify partners to design solutions to make Algebra 1 more accessible, relevant, and collaborative for students who are Black, Latino, English Learners, and/or experiencing poverty.
Today, Algebra 1 serves as a gatekeeper, rather than a gateway, to future success. In the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s first ever U.S. education Grand Challenge, we sought to identify partners to design solutions to make Algebra 1 more accessible, relevant, and collaborative for students who are Black, Latino, English Learners, and/or experiencing poverty.
We were thrilled by the field’s response to this call to action. We received 416 applications from organizations across 26 countries around the world. Of these, 55 percent were from organizations that self-identified as minority-led, and 82 percent were from organizations that had not received funding from our foundation before. After a review process that included feedback from foundation staff as well as outside subject matter experts and thought leaders, we selected 15 organizations for Phase 1 grants.
This initial group of Phase 1 grantees represent a diverse and impressive cohort of organizations. Specifically, 11 of these 15 organizations are run by a leader of color and 40 percent of them are new grantees to the foundation. Each of these organizations will receive a $100,000 planning and prototyping grant to develop, test, and refine their solution.
Download the fact sheet and learn more about these grantees.