It is with profound gratitude that Citizen Schools announces one of the largest unrestricted gifts in its history, an investment of eight million dollars from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. 

This transformative gift opens up tremendous opportunities for expanding our impact and deepening our commitment to students, educators and communities during a critical moment in public education and in our organization’s evolution. Leveraging more than 27 years of direct service working towards our mission of ensuring all students thrive in school and beyond through hands-on learning and career mentors, staff and board are now in the midst of transitioning into a capacity building and systems change organization. 

“While our mission remains the same, this gift propels our renewed work of supporting nonprofits and schools with the capacity to strengthen experiential learning and career mentorship. Together, we are fighting to eliminate systemic obstacles for student access to critical resources, networks and support.”

–Oscar Cruz, CEO, Citizen Schools

Citizen Schools would also like to acknowledge all the supporters who have contributed to our legacy to date. Our work is only possible because of our strong community of champions. 

“Over the last 27 years, and because of the generosity we’ve received from our partners, donors and community supporters, Citizen Schools has engaged over 50,000 students and over 25,000 volunteers to bring hands-on experiential learning and mentorship to students from underserved or marginalized communities. We are also very grateful for this gift to continue our work.”

–Michael Keating, National Board Chair, Citizen Schools

Looking forward, to ensure we are thoughtful in applying these funds towards the greatest impact we can have, we will lead an internal dialogue with our teams and board members and solicit input from the community to identify the greatest needs and possibilities for our organization. We will also center our diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging goals throughout all areas of investments.

“Our ambitions to strengthen diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are at the core of our organization and these values are the north star for our work. It is a privilege to have resources to center this work and help bring these ambitions into reality.”

–Michelle Carter, VP of Talent, People, & Culture

Through our diversity, equity and inclusion lens, we will focus on these core areas:

1. Our staff and culture: as we care for the broader community, we also plan to care for our people by investing in support for our staff and AmeriCorps members, and in Citizen Schools’ culture. We know that the people who do the daily work will be the driving force behind our collective success. 

2. Programs supporting community impact: these funds give us permission to be bold in our investment toward systems change and innovation. Most importantly, we want to invest in our communities for deeper impact. 

3. Mission sustainability: for our organization, this transformative gift provides security and sustainability, so we can continue our mission for years to come.

This generous support is a powerful boost towards our vision of ensuring all students have experiences and relationships that ignite curiosity, build confidence, and help them develop into the next generation of leaders. But we also know that meeting our vision will require engaging a movement of champions and supporters. If you have an interest in joining us in this journey, please reach out to ceo@citizenschools.org.