The Wildflower Foundation is helping something that started small grow into something big: teacher-led, micro, Montessori schools. Each school is independently operated by its teachers, who collaborate across the network. The foundation, created in 2016, helps the school network set and maintain standards and creates tools to help school leaders balance their administrative and teaching responsibilities. Wildflower’s growth has been organic, starting with a single school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that opened in 2014 to, as of 2024, more than 60 schools schools across 17 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Wildflower also seeks to diversify the enrollment and educator workforce of Montessori; 58% of students and 48% of teacher leaders identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color.

EPIC is a research center devoted to the idea that rigorous evidence can improve education policy, and, ultimately, students’ lives. Using cutting-edge methods, they create actionable research to create and implement new policy. 

None of that was making an impact with an out-of-date logo and a lack-luster web-presence.

Each year in America, about 23,000 youth who’ve been in foster care age into adulthood without a family. Within two years, 25% of these young people are incarcerated, 20% are homeless, 42% drop out of high school, and 71% are pregnant or parents. To change outcomes for these young people, especially in Virginia, two Richmond-based nonprofits, Better Housing Coalition and Children’s Home Society of Virginia, launched The Possibilities Project and commissioned a national survey to learn what other states are doing to support foster youth as they transition to adulthood.

Marking 25 years of preparing leaders to fight educational inequity was a moment to celebrate on its own, but Teach For America also needed to rally its diverse community and re-energize them to continue standing for kids despite criticism and fatigue.

OUR CLIENTS

We keep 5e lean and tailor our team to each client’s needs, resources and budget. We especially like collaborating with emerging talent and those whose diverse backgrounds and styles challenge our thinking and improve our work.