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About the Leader
Lakisha Young is Founder & CEO of The Oakland REACH. She developed a formula that guides REACH’s work: Ask families questions. Listen to their aspirations. Build the solutions. Liberate our communities. This formula led to the Virtual Family Hub, a one-stop shop supporting families during the pandemic, and The Liberator Model, which trains parents/caregivers to become tutors in low-performing Oakland schools. Now, she is launching the REACH Parent District, a tech-enabled model that certifies the best high-impact virtual tutoring providers and bridges them directly to lower-income families.
About the Work
There’s a literacy and math crisis in our country. The Oakland REACH builds bold and innovative direct-service solutions, like our Liberator Model and the REACH Parent District, so our families can lift literacy and math outcomes for their children and those in their community. Our multi-generational educational solutions build agency. We’re on a mission to liberate our communities so families can create a life of their own vs. having one chosen for them.
THE 1954 PROJECT
Investing in Durable Leadership & Institutions
The 1954 Project identifies visionary education leaders whose work is strengthening Black communities and invests in them and what they are building with significant, flexible capital and long-term relationship.
Named for the year of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, The 1954 Project honors that promise by backing leaders closest to the work with resources that follow their vision.
This is philanthropy shaped by trust in leaders and commitment to what they’re building.
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Meet More of the Network
Lakisha Young
The Oakland REACH
Verneé Green
Mikva Challenge
Diarese George
Nashville Public Education Foundation
Tori Hines
Resurgence Hall
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