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As a teenager participating in a church convention that happened to be held in his hometown of St. Louis, Donald Hense came face to face with what would turn out to be his life’s passion—education and civil rights. Hense, the founder of VPP investment partner Friendship Public Charter School (FPCS), recalls that there were three keynote speakers at that convention: Dr. Mordecai Johnson, a graduate of Morehouse College, president of Howard University, and one of the architects of Brown v. Board of Education; Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, president of Morehouse College in Atlanta, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s mentor; and Dr. King, Jr., also a Morehouse graduate.
Deeply moved and inspired by the speeches he’d heard, Hense enrolled at Morehouse College. There he got involved in civil rights and also served as the student representative on the board of the college. “[I learned] what it took to make a school work. It was hard but it was exciting. I served with Dr. King, and was at the college when he was assassinated and was one of the ushers at the funeral. My life and what I was attempting to do with it changed forever.”
After graduation, Hense entered a PhD program at Stanford University with the full intent of going back to be president of Morehouse. Although he never did become a college president, he continued to be involved in both education and civil rights. His present role as Chairman of Friendship Public Charter School combines both of these passions as he works fervently to ensure that children living in some of DC’s toughest neighborhoods get a world-class education and an opportunity to participate fully in the knowledge economy.
Hense founded FPCS in 1998 after several years as Executive Director of Friendship House, a 100-year-old social service agency that helps children, families, and seniors in DC. As Hense described it, Friendship House was an old-line agency that needed to revitalize and reenergize some of its programs. In the course of thinking through how best to reshape its services, Hense organized a series of task forces to look at issues related to youth development, social services, and education. Out of the education task force came the recommendation that Friendship House should look at the possibility of starting a charter school.
“The issue, as I saw it, was that the public school system was hung up on rules and regulations and failed to focus on children. Unions had become the predominant force in education to the detriment of children. Schools have to be child- and family-oriented,” he says.
After doing some research on who were the leaders in the then young charter school industry, he came upon Chris Whittle, founder of Edison Schools, a private company that partners with public school systems to raise student achievement and educational outcomes through its research-based school design and curriculum, management solutions, professional development, and extended learning programs. The two teamed up and created Friendship Public Charter School. Today, the school serves more than 3,350 students on four campuses, with a fifth campus recently added. The school offers programs from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Ninety-six percent of students who graduate from Friendship’s High School go on to college.
According to Hense, two things that distinguish the school are the wrap-around services that extend learning opportunities beyond the traditional school day and a focus on technology.
“Our notion of education is that it never ends. We offer before- and after-school programs that offer recreation, snacks, more math, and more reading that we believe are necessary to overcome some of the deficits that our children may have. And we have a Saturday Academy to help kids improve in certain subject areas where they may be weak,” Hense says.
On the technology front, Friendship boasts more than 5,000 computers for 3,300 students. All of the teachers have laptops, and students are allowed to take computers home. The school has a partnership with Southern Methodist University to guide high school students toward careers in technology and engineering. FPCS is one of two robotics programs in DC to have participated in the first competition at the US Naval Academy, and its junior high program was a semi-finalist in the Maryland State Robotics competition.
The numbers show that Friendship’s approach is working. From 2000 to 2004, scores on the Stanford 9 math tests jumped more than 30 points and reading scores at three of the campuses increased by between 23 to 35 points. And while these increases are impressive, Hense points out they still have a long way to go because the education gap that needs to be closed is large.
“One of my campuses is a very difficult nut to crack. Seventy-five percent of kids are living below the poverty line. It’s devastation when a majority of our kids coming in from DCPS in the ninth grade read at a second grade level,” he says.
While someone else might get frustrated, it makes Hense want to push harder. He is driven to provide a significantly better education for kids who otherwise would not be likely to get it.
With the exception of starting a technology company in the 1980s, Hense has spent the majority of his own career in education and advocacy. After graduating from Morehouse College, he entered the PhD program in economics at Stanford University because he looked at the career path of college presidents and noticed that many of them had degrees in economics. He completed all the degree requirements except the dissertation. Hense then went on to hold a number of positions in development, administration, and government relations at several colleges and universities, including Dartmouth College, Boston University, and Prairie View A&M University of the Texas University A&M System.
But an unexpected call from a headhunter changed his career trajectory. The National Urban League in New York was looking for a Vice President of Development and had been given Hense’s name. At first Hense wasn’t sure he was interested and turned them down. The recruiter persisted, and after meeting with Tony Burns, who was at that time Chairman of the Ryder Corporation and the National Urban League, he was convinced.
Hense spent three years at the Urban League helping the organization raise money and logging hundreds of thousand frequent flyer miles in the process. Tired of the travel and the hectic pace, Hense left the Urban League, moving back to Washington to take a breather. But his break didn’t last long. He became Director of Development at Arena Stage and then held development positions at Whitman Walker Clinic and the Children’s Defense Fund. He joined the Board of Friendship House and was chairman of the search committee to find a new executive director. The Board Chairman asked Hense if he might be interested in the position and Hense decided to give it a try.
“The National Urban League experience was everything a person seeking to be a part of a movement could want, except for me it did not provide me with the opportunity for direct involvement,” he says. “Advocacy is a significant part of any movement, but direct hands-on involvement in creating organizations that changed lives is where I felt I needed to be. So I veered from side to side until that opportunity came from Friendship House.”
While working at the Children’s Defense Fund, Hense first crossed paths with VPP Chairman Mario Morino who came to meet with Marian Wright Edelman shortly after he retired from industry and was starting to get involved with philanthropy. When Hense started at Friendship House he contacted the Morino Institute looking for funding for some of the technology programs he was starting there, which he did receive as a participant in the Morino Institute’s Youth Development Collaborative Pilot program.
Being a VPP investment partner is important to help Friendship Public Charter School grow and meet its ambitious goals. According to Hense, Friendship will build three to four new schools in the next three to four years at a cost of $50 million and increase its student enrollment by 2,000. FPCS is currently in discussion with Northern Virginia Community College to create a technology prep school for grades 7 through 12, in Ward 8. Students will graduate from this high school with an associate’s degree. It also plans to create the Friendship Foreign Language Academy, which will offer the International Baccalaureate program in Washington, DC.
“VPP doesn’t just give you a grant; it works closely with you to help achieve your goal and that’s the difference,” Hense says. “Ours is focused on making sure we grow correctly. Every major company or nonprofit that gets into trouble, it’s because of their systems. We need to make sure that our systems can keep up in place to provide professional development for teachers and keep our program at the forefront.”
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At Venture Philanthropy Partners, the effectiveness of our investment approach, the value we add to our investment partners, and the progress they make as a result of VPP’s involvement are fundamentally a function of the quality of the relationship that we and our investment partners develop. Great partnerships are a result of great relationships, a truth that plays out in so much of life.
Importance of Partnership Confirmed
Partnership is the essential premise upon which our investment approach is based. Our experience with and feedback from our investment partners strongly confirm this principle. And we’re not alone; I suspect that others, like the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, have found this in their work as well. We’ve learned that in order to deliver the most possible value as a strategic investor, a true partnership must emerge between our team and our investment partners. The most revealing part of our experience to date has been the recognition that our work is most highly valued by those investment partners with whom we have developed a true partnership. This kind of partnership—marked by honesty, directness, and openness, as well as by mutuality of respect, accountability, and shared learning—triggered breakthroughs in new thinking that led to fundamental change. Alternatively, where true partnership did not evolve, change was more incremental and our value, although still important, was much less significant.
Partnership Characteristics
An effective partnership is a function of the degree to which our investment partners and we experience common ground, open exchanges in our discussions, regard for each other’s values and culture, decision-making that is shared vs. pressured, trust, and respect. All of these elements allow both parties to objectively focus on the critical issues and directly affect perceived value and actual results. Key to all of this is the importance of getting good alignment up front on expectations and boundaries, and resetting and confirming those expectations and boundaries throughout the relationship as needs and situations change.
Inherent Impediments to Partnership
The power imbalance. For most of the players we’ve met in the nonprofit world, the relationship between the funder and the recipient is out of balance and skewed to the funder—“he with the gold rules.” So, it’s easy to understand why there is skepticism and “push back” on the term “partnership.” The inherent level of disbelief that we, or others with a similar investment approach, are not coming to the table with our own agenda is deeply ingrained in the field, and it takes a significant effort—with demonstrated performance—to overcome. Indeed, working through this has been one of the biggest challenges in our work with our investment partners.
The DNA of an executive director. It is frightening, even unnerving, for nonprofit leaders to open up to an outsider, especially a funder, about the real problems in their organizations and in their own career development. Such openness makes them vulnerable, and, unfortunately, to many, this is seen as a sign of weakness or even a threat. Yet to really help a leader or an organization advance and grow, one needs to understand the most critical problems.
The difficulty of strong and appropriate execution. We’ve learned that the way we execute can create impediments to true partnership. Thanks to the candid feedback of our investment partners, we’ve learned some important lessons and are now better in our execution.
We must avoid being “supervisory,” and instead be “advisory.” Specifically, we must be advisors and supporters by helping them do what they need to do for their organizations.
Regardless of how difficult or tempting, we can’t impose our vision, goals, or milestones on leaders or organizations—they must operate with their definitions, and the vision, goals, and milestones must be “owned” by the leader and the organization. We must also recognize that it is their life and their organization, and not ours.
A true partnership mandates shared learning. We can’t come to the table with “the answers” or with the attitude that “we know best.” We must be willing to learn alongside our partners, better understand what they face, come to know the communities in which they operate, and then, together, find the best ways to improve and scale their impact.
In the “heat of the battle,” all this is much easier said than done. That’s why our team now spends significant time questioning, pushing, and probing each other to best serve our investment partners: Are we focused on the most critical issues and needs? Are we helping set the conditions for change? Are we helping the leaders think through and execute their plans? And, on our end, are we doing what we need to do to nurture and grow the relationship?
Earning Partnership
Partnership is based on trust, and trust cannot be granted. Each party must earn the other’s trust—and must do so continuously as situations and times change. Trust is earned on our end by not overstepping the bounds of the relationship, by remembering that we are there to help leaders build and strengthen their organizations, not control them or impose our vision. There must be an open “give-and-take,” and a willingness to “bare one’s soul” without fear of retribution or suspicion the other party will “run from the problem.”
The investment partner must also earn respect by putting forth actions to support their words and by doing what they claim they want to do, which often requires making very difficult decisions. Many nonprofit leaders, because of the way the “system” works, have had to be manipulative, even exploitative, to get the funding they need. The biggest challenge many face is setting those tendencies aside in exchange for a productive working partnership. We all know that it’s always “about the money,” but if a funder and recipient can’t get past the usual refrain of “just give me the #&% money and let me do my job,” then the true potential of the partnership gets left on the table. The fact that a number of our investment partners place a higher value on our expertise and strategic assistance than on the funding itself (which is in the millions) has been one of the most significant confirmations of our investment approach.
We’ve Held True to Our Course
When VPP was still being formed and before the first member of the team was hired, I shared the following speech in the summer of 2000, entitled “Venture Philanthropy: Leveraging Compassion with Capacity,” which spoke of the importance of partnership.
“In the commercial world, the most successful investors are true strategic partners to the enterprises they fund. Their work starts with the funding instead of ending there. They develop relationships and build trust with the people of the organizations in which they invest. Instead of intruding and directing, they support and consult. Instead of controlling, they become vested partners that share risk. They provide management advice. They help managers deploy resources that help them achieve their missions. They open up doors. They make long-term commitments that enable businesses to invest in capacity for the long haul rather than simply surviving to the next quarter. More than anything else, they help build great organizations that, in turn, create great value. Our experience suggests that many nonprofits could benefit from a similar approach of strategic investment.”
After five years of experience with our investment approach, the above sentiments apply as much today as they did then. The difference is that we—our investment partners and VPP—have now “walked the walk.” We have a much better sense of the importance of strong, trusting relationships and focus more on relationship-building as a fundamental aspect of our work. And, when our investment approach is well-executed and a true partnership emerges, our investment partners tell us this works and, in fact, that it works well.
Power of Aligned Success
Developing true, effective partnerships offers the field a great opportunity to tip the scales for much greater effectiveness—for nonprofits and funders alike. There is something very important at work here, and the lives of children are at stake. It certainly is not new, but we’re finding it takes an investment of effort that is different than the norm. At a time when everyone is under-resourced, when there never seems an end to the injustice that keeps children from growing into healthy, productive adults, we must not balkanize ourselves as funders, investors, or nonprofits and instead find better ways to work more effectively together, to learn from each other, and to advocate for and advance our common cause. Maybe true partnership between funder and recipient that is built on respect for one another, shared learning, aligned mission and goals, and mutual accountability is something we need more of in this world.
-Mario Morino
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Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington Receives Grant
Thanks to Tanzi West, Director of Communications, for this update.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington has been awarded a $400,000 grant from the District of Columbia Office of Public Safety and Justice for gang prevention programming. Implemented throughout five Metropolitan Police Clubhouses in the District of Columbia, the grant will provide over 2,000 young people with programs, including Prime Time Sports and DC Fashion Idols.
The Prime Time Sports athletic program, open to both boys and girls, builds upon the foundation of sports to coordinate community-based services and provide these services directly to at-risk youth who have demonstrated a need for an alternative to the streets. Partners in the service delivery of this program include Positive Coaching Alliance, a nonprofit organization seeking to transform youth sports into positive atmospheres. Through this partnership, BGCGW will teach that winning is important in life, but not at all costs, and assist youth in developing positive life skills.
The Metropolitan Police Department recently reported that females are becoming the fastest growing gender of perpetrators and victims of violent crimes. The DC Fashion Idols targets at-risk female youth who are in danger of being recruited by or becoming involved with gangs. The participants will be responsible for the development and implementation of an effective community fashion show at the end of the program.
CentroNía’s Tutoring Program Provides Community Connections
Thanks to Isabel Barranzuela, Development Associate, for this update.
Parents aren’t the only happy ones when back to school season arrives. Volunteer tutors at CentroNía are equally eager for school to begin. The CentroNía tutoring programs serve over 100 students who are paired with over 100 tutors and five university partners. Tutors seem to gain as much as the students from the relationships.
Four-year volunteer, Jermaine Palmer, a systems technology specialist for BRINKS, Inc., said, “Tutoring a child is entirely beneficial because of the sense of responsibility it gives that young people like me look for, and, of course, for the participants. The fact that the student I was tutoring asked me to be his official tutor for this upcoming year was a total satisfaction for me.”
Catholic University’s partnership with CentroNía has existed since the creation of the DC Reads initiative six years ago. The partnership makes an important contribution to the development of students at Catholic. Ten to twelve students give up their Saturday mornings for a whole year to come and offer their help.
Emmjolee Mendoza, DC Reads Coordinator and partner representative from Catholic University of America, said, “I believe this type of commitment is not little, especially for college students. It says a lot about the commitment they have with the organization and it happens only because of the commitment the organization has to them.”
During school year 2004-05, George Washington University provided 48 volunteers to the program. Timothy Kane, Director of GW’s Office of Community Service, said, “We have a symbiotic partnership with CentroNía because they are a resource for our students, as much as we are for them. It provides our students with the opportunity of enhancing their educational experience, and we provide them with committed and enthusiastic volunteers for the tutoring program.”
Proof that the tutoring program works is clear when a former participant takes on a new role. During her ninth and tenth grade years, program participant Sandra G. struggled with reading because of a learning disability, and her grades were poor. She started coming to CentroNía every day after school to get help, and now she loves English and reading, especially the Langston Hughes’ play, Dream Deferred. She said, “I’m [now] a senior at Bell Multicultural High School and have started doing community service in CentroNía Literacy Program, helping the teachers and gaining more experience.”
To learn more or to volunteer, contact Eda García, Family Literacy Director, at 202-332-4200, ext. 138, or by email at egarcia@centronia.org. Training sessions for 2005-2006 begin September 10 and tutoring sessions start on October 8.
CFNC Highlighted at The Comcast Outdoor Film Festival
Thanks to Susan Francis, Director of Development, for this update.
Over the weekend of July 29, Comcast and the City of Alexandria presented The Comcast Outdoor Film Festival at Ben Brenman Park, benefiting the Child and Family Network Centers (CFNC). The Outdoor Film Festival offered three nights of free outdoor movies, and an opportunity to highlight CFNC’s work and raise funds for CFNC programs. Kids and adults alike had the opportunity to watch Shrek 2, Spiderman 2, and the Wizard of Oz, and support neighborhood services in their community. The movies were provided by Outdoor Movies Inc. and proceeds from the food sales benefited CFNC.
Alexandria City Mayor William “Bill” Euille attended the Festival all three evenings. Hundreds of families from the Alexandria City area enjoyed the movies. Thanks to Comcast, the City of Alexandria, dedicated volunteers, and generous support from the movie-goers, CFNC raised almost $4,000 and shared information their organization.
College Summit Slated to Go Over 10,000th Student Mark in 2005-2006
Thanks to Omar Garriott, Senior Coordinator, Marketing Strategy and Public Policy, for providing this update.
Workshops at Howard University, Washington College, and the University of California-Berkeley culminated College Summit’s largest workshop season ever. The 31 intensive college preparatory workshops on college campuses around the country represent more than a 50% increase over 2004, an important metric for growth and social impact since workshops substantially increase college enrollment rates for the “Peer Leaders” that attend them. Seventy-nine percent of such students have traditionally enrolled in college, which compares to a national average of only 46% for the lowest-income quartile in America.
New college partners this summer include state flagships like the UC-Berkeley, University of Illinois-Springfield, Ohio State University, Arizona State University, New York University, University of Missouri-St. Louis, University of South Carolina, and Howard University.
Building on the momentum of the summer workshops, College Summit will more than eclipse serving its 10,000th student since its inception, with teachers implementing curriculum in partner high schools.
Friendship Public Charter School Launches News Network
Thanks to Barry Lofton, Director of Communications, for this update.
Friendship News Network (FNN), an after-school and summer journalism program, offers students, ages 11-18, an opportunity to learn about and work in the areas of print and broadcast journalism, as well as web design. Students from Friendship Public Charter School and other District public schools will produce products such as a magazine, website, and radio and television programming.
RATED-T, a youth-focused magazine, is FNN’s first product. Development began in February 2005, at Friendship’s Blow Pierce Middle School. Students initially met to determine editorial policy, graphic standards, creation of the magazine’s name, brainstorm story ideas, choose their jobs, start research, set up interviews and write stories. During the summer, FNN staff continued to work at Friendship Collegiate Academy to create stories, design, and produce the first issue.
Read the premiere issue of RATED-T online or contact Barry Lofton for a hard copy.
LAYC Opens Maryland Center and Youthbuild Public Charter School
Thanks to Lori Kaplan, Executive Director, for this update.
LAYC opened its doors in Maryland this summer with a summer arts, media, and school beautification camp program for 116 sixth through ninth graders at Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville, MD. This collaboration, with the University of Maryland Democracy Collaborative and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, was highlighted in the August 23 Washington Post and in the August 25 Washington Post Prince George’s Weekly Extra Section. Post reporter Nick Anderson wrote, “On the first day of classes for Washington area public schools, it was clear that spray painters had left their mark this summer in the hallways, stairwells, and bathrooms of Nicolas Orem Middle School. Rarely has the Hyattsville school looked so good.” He continued on August 25, “Some activists are jumping into schools with programs that are likely to pay dividends whether gangs are active or not. One of them is the summer program at Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville…the Latin American Youth Center project, a major step into Maryland for a nonprofit group based in the District”.
The LAYC anticipates a staff of approximately 15-20 people in Maryland during the next fiscal year. LAYC’s beginning effort will heavily focus on workforce development, gang prevention, after-school activities, and social supports. The LAYC plans to implement its full model of youth development, as defined in the VPP-funded strategic planning effort, in Maryland. The LAYC, in collaboration with Dr. Mark Edberg from George Washington University and the Council on Latino Agencies, also received a major four-year grant award from the Center for Disease Control entitled “Targeted Primary Prevention to Address Selected Community Risk Factors for Youth Violence in the Latino Community of Langley Park, MD.” This research-based and direct service grant will enable the LAYC to significantly address gang prevention and intervention issues in the Langley Park community.
The LAYC is also preparing for the pioneer class of 55 students at the new LAYC Youthbuild Public Charter School, opening in September. The school is under the leadership of Patricia Bravo, Executive Director, and Andrea Morton, Principal. Morton was selected to be a “Principal in Training” as part of this year’s New Leaders New Schools program.
Mary's Center Provides Teen Work Experiences
Thanks to David Bender, Vice President, Business Development and Communications, for this update.
Mary's Center Urbanitos Program is part of the Mayor's Summer Pro-Urban Youth Employment Program. The program, conducted in both English and Spanish, allows the teens to have a work experience in a health care setting. For six weeks, youth between the ages of 14-20 attend the program for 20 hours each week. This year Mary’s Center worked with 38 participants whose families come from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile, Peru, and the Dominican Republic.
In addition to the work experience, this year's group completed two projects. For the family heritage project, participants interviewed family members and took pictures to assemble a scrapbook. This project helped the youth learn more about their family's country of origin and built a stronger and respectful bond between parent and child. Some of the youth shared their books and stories with a delegation of directors from the Inter-American Development Bank, who visited Mary's Center on August 2.
The teens also formed small groups and selected an issue in the community. Each group conducted research, created a display board, and wrote a skit, which was performed for the staff of Mary's Center. Topics included drugs, alcohol, violence in the community, parental communication, and pregnancy prevention. Many of the youth have committed to continuing with the program in the fall. All are returning to school, having gained new leadership qualities and skills.
See Forever’s Summer Exposure 2005: Living and Learning Beyond the School and City
Thanks to Tim Downey, Director of Development, for this update.
At Maya Angelou Public Charter School (MAPCS), all students participate in school-sponsored summer activities for four to six weeks. This year, summer programming began on July 5, and students participated in a variety of classes at school, internships with local businesses and nonprofits, and exposure opportunities at leadership camps, pre-college programs, and more.
A key lever that enables MAPCS to offer summer academic programming is its college internship program. This summer, 10 college students worked at the school and provided direct academic instruction and support along with MAPCS full-time staff. Interns represented colleges including Catholic University, Harvard University, Howard University, and Trinity University. Two of them are MACPS alumni, both entering their final year of college.
Maya Angelou students participated in two primary projects, both designed to improve literacy and mathematical skills, while also keeping them enthusiastic about being in “summer school.” Summer internships supplement their year-long work experiences, and this summer, students worked with not-for-profits such as Concerned Black Men, the Earth Conservation Corps, Frederick Douglas House, Planned Parenthood, and the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center. Students also had summer jobs with the Mayor's Youth Leadership Institute, the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, and George Washington University.
Summer exposure in the Washington area included participation in programs with the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, Fashion Design Camp, and the Shakespeare Theater. Exposure programs outside of the region included Adventures Venturing into America (Hawaii), Aspen Youth Experience (Colorado ), College Summit (Baltimore), Hoops Sagrado (Guatemala ), North Carolina Outward Bound, and a Sports Broadcasting Camp (Baltimore).
SEED School Kicks Off 2005-2006
Thanks to Elizabeth Frazier, Director of Communications, for this update.
The eighth year of classes resumed at The SEED School on August 30, bringing the hallways, classrooms, and dormitories to life with the excitement of 320 students. Academic faculty have implemented new teaching initiatives, such as incorporating individualized literacy assessments into reading and writing classes and using interim student evaluations to track student progress systematically. Meanwhile, the student life program has remodeled its HALLS (Habits for Achieving for Life-Long Success) curriculum. Enhancements include increasing the number of student support and counseling staff and offering more student leadership opportunities. These enhancements are part of SEED's continuing work to improve the program and ensure that future students will continue to receive the education and support necessary to graduate from high school and succeed at college.
Throughout the summer, a dedicated network of staff worked hard to ensure that SEED’s 24-hour program was ready for students’ arrival on campus. SEED staff members possess a broad range of expertise in business, counseling, educational administration, social work, youth development programs and education in boarding, charter, independent and public schools. This breadth of knowledge is necessary for consistent delivery of SEED’s round-the-clock holistic academic and life skills programming.
Dr. Keith Hinderlie, who recently joined The SEED Foundation as director of programs, is one such staff member. Hinderlie, a licensed psychologist, brings a wealth of experience in the provision of student and community services, including launching a family-oriented program in Boston that helped African American children to be successful at school. Since April, he has worked with SEED to provide overall program leadership and in partnership with John Ciccone, the head of school, to design a student behavior management system that balances support with consequences. Ciccone said, “Keith’s experience as a psychologist and as a child/family therapist was essential to the creation of a comprehensive behavior management system. Behavior issues are often an outgrowth of family situations, and Keith has developed a system that will allow staff and families to work in partnership with one another.”
Hinderlie’s work to foster school culture and improve student achievement will become increasingly important as The SEED Foundation opens additional schools.
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