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The Fund
The Fund’s management team proves an integral asset to our success. Combined with our financial capital and our portfolio of program investments, The Fund is building a critical mass of great public schools in Chicago. Our team, comprised of individuals dedicated to this mission, values equity, integrity, and excellence, and we employ collaboration, innovation, and effective leadership to set and reach our goals.
"The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react."
– Gloria E. Anzaldúa
Andrea Aguilera Villalobos
"Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation."
– Robert H. Schuller
Heather Y. Anichini
“The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility . . .”
– bell hooks
TaNiya Bellamy
Cheyane Bligen
"What the best and wisest parent wants for his child, that must we want for all children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left unchecked, destroys our democracy."
– John Dewey
Julie Burnett
"Education is freedom."
– Paulo Freire
Jennifer Cervantes
“The function of freedom is to free someone else.”
– Toni Morrison
Eytan Cohen
"Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness."
– Lucius Annaeus Seneca
E.J. Dubinsky
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
– Nelson Mandela
Annie Filer
“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.”
– Maya Angelou
Sydney Finley
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
– Antoine De Saint-Exupery
Nelson Gerew
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."
– Unknown
Maureen Henrikson
Zach Jacobs
"Be the change you wish to see in the world"
– Gandhi
Mariel Laureano
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."
– Søren Kierkegaard
Esther Lee
"We cannot have government for all the people until we first make certain it is government of and by all the people."
– Lyndon B. Johnson
Chris LeSuer
“When I dare to be powerful — to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
– Audre Lorde
Patricia Mota
Elisabethe Ocon Calderon
Tatyana Parks
"You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated."
– Maya Angelou
Dipti Patel
“The educator has the duty of not being neutral.”
– Paulo Freire
Savannah Payne
Melanie Ramos
Yaslin Ruiz
“I can see the sun, but even if I cannot see the sun, I know that it exists. And to know that the sun is there - that is living.”
– Fyodor Dostoevsky
Federico Sanchez
Barry Tyler
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”
– Mary Engelbreit
Ashton Yurk