Building Capacity for Delaware's School Boards
A fundraiser for First State Educate
$1,300 raised from 2 donors
$2,500 goal
First State Educate is a nonpartisan, community-based nonprofit working to strengthen Delaware’s public education system by empowering families, supporting effective school board leadership, and promoting transparency and accountability in local schools. Together, we’re building the capacity of communities and leaders to ensure every Delaware student has access to a high-quality education.
Your gift fuels the work happening every day in Delaware:
Your gift fuels the work happening every day in Delaware:
- The Knowledge Hub, where families, board members, and community leaders learn together
- Training and support for school board members, so they’re prepared to serve with clarity, confidence, and purpose
- Election awareness, ensuring every Delawarean understands the power of their vote and shows up at the polls to choose their school board members
- The Delaware Regional Spelling Bee, a joyful moment that lifts up students from every corner of the state
- Our Capacity Grant and Primo Scholars programs that invest in bold ideas and the people behind them
- Monthly Board Matters conversations that bring communities together around the issues that shape our children’s lives
Together, we can build the leadership our schools need to thrive.
About First State Educate
Mission: To empower Delawareans to actively engage in school governance, ensuring that educational leaders have the tools and knowledge to foster accountability and equitable student outcomes.
Vision
To create a Delaware where all communities actively shape and sustain an education system that is transparent, accountable, and dedicated to ensuring every student graduates with an education that enables them to lead a successful, productive life.
At the heart of FSE’s mission is an urgent need to address a growing humanitarian crisis in Delaware's public education system. Many students are not receiving the quality education they need to succeed, which deepens the socioeconomic divide between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots.’ This divide has far-reaching implications, as limited educational attainment is closely linked to poverty, crime, and a cycle of inequity that persists across generations. School boards, which make critical day-to-day decisions affecting student outcomes, control multi-million-dollar budgets sourced from nearly a third of Delaware’s state funds. However, with no training requirements in place, many board members are not equipped to manage these substantial resources or to be accountable to the communities they represent.
To create a Delaware where all communities actively shape and sustain an education system that is transparent, accountable, and dedicated to ensuring every student graduates with an education that enables them to lead a successful, productive life.
At the heart of FSE’s mission is an urgent need to address a growing humanitarian crisis in Delaware's public education system. Many students are not receiving the quality education they need to succeed, which deepens the socioeconomic divide between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots.’ This divide has far-reaching implications, as limited educational attainment is closely linked to poverty, crime, and a cycle of inequity that persists across generations. School boards, which make critical day-to-day decisions affecting student outcomes, control multi-million-dollar budgets sourced from nearly a third of Delaware’s state funds. However, with no training requirements in place, many board members are not equipped to manage these substantial resources or to be accountable to the communities they represent.
County Served: Kent; New Castle; Sussex
Office Location(s): Wilmington
Sector: BIPOC-Led (Sr/Exec Leadership); Capacity Building; Civic Engagement & Social Action; Community Advocacy; Education; Social Justice; Workforce; Youth Development
