Latest Investments

In 2022, The Studio @ Blue Meridian invested in 7 organizations who are supporting student engagement and laying the groundwork for future systemic improvement to combat the disruption to the education system caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

BellXcel

BellXcel is a national nonprofit that works to transform the academic achievements, self-confidence, and life trajectories of children in under-resourced communities. Focused on school districts and community-based organizations, BellXcel’s software platform helps to enhance the quality of youth programs and ensure access to equitable learning opportunities by providing time-saving digital tools and resources including operational data and systems support, professional development for teachers, family engagement resources, and student-facing curricula. To date, BellXcel has worked with over 300K+ scholars, empowered over 20K educators, and run programs in rural and urban communities in 35+ states.

Learn more about BellXcel

Communities in Schools

Communities In Schools (CIS) helps students succeed in school by partnering with teachers to identify and coordinate community resources to address challenges they are facing inside and outside the classroom. It is committed to creating equitable learning conditions for all students, especially those living in poverty, and works to provide access to critical needs like food, housing, healthcare, and counseling. CIS has accomplished this through its network of 110+ affiliates across 26 states and the District of Columbia and is pursuing greater reach through state and district licensures. It is also working to re-engage students who had become disconnected from school during COVID to get them back on track towards academic and career goals. Last year, CIS served more than 1.6M students across 2,900 schools.

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Equal Opportunity Schools

Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) strengthens educator and system leader capacity to break down barriers to increase participation, belonging, and success in rigorous college- and career-prep secondary school courses for students of color and low-income students so that they may thrive in their postsecondary pursuits and life goals. It does this by partnering with school, district, county, state, and national leaders to ensure students are equitably seen, engaged, and supported. EOS’ partnership model is consultative and collaborative, and its national network consists of more than 600 schools in 200 districts across 30 states. Through its program, EOS has supported partner schools to enroll more than 50,000 students of color and low-income students in advanced courses.

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MDRC SUCCESS

MDRC, an education and social policy research organization, incubated and spearheaded the Scaling Up College Completion Efforts for Student Success (SUCCESS) Initiative. SUCCESS seeks to improve community college graduation rates, which are historically low, across the nation and close gaps in educational outcomes for underrepresented students. MDRC is providing in-depth technical assistance to empower states and college districts to support colleges to develop and implement new, financially sustainable student support programs and create a network of colleges and state officials that will provide peer support and accelerate learning from the field. MDRC is also advising states to ensure that federal funding currently available is deployed to support evidence-based strategies that drive student outcomes and college completion.

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Saga Education

Saga Education is a national leader in high-impact, in-school tutoring that leverages both the power of human capital and technology to accelerate student outcomes and create more equitable learning for students. Saga partners with public school districts to supplement teacher instruction by offering trained tutors for students who are falling behind – especially low-income and historically underserved students. It helps districts develop and implement high-quality tutoring models by offering technical assistance and quality assurance, and by giving access to best-in-class learning technology tools and resources. Through Saga’s program, students learn up to 2.5 years’ worth of math in one academic year, and the opportunity gap is closed by nearly 50% in that same year.

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TRAILS

TRAILS (Transforming Research into Action to Improve the Lives of Students) partners with schools to improve student access to effective mental health services. It equips school staff to deliver multi-tiered programming that includes universal education and awareness for all students, early intervention for those impacted by common mental health concerns, and crisis management for students experiencing suicidality. TRAILS prioritizes Title I schools and student populations who experience disproportionate barriers to care: students of color, students from immigrant families, LGBTQIA+ students, and students contending with homelessness. TRAILS is working to broaden its reach within its home state of Michigan and expand its cost effective and sustainable model to other states.

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Youth Guidance

Youth Guidance is a leading provider of outcomes-driven programs and capacity-building initiatives. It creates and implements school-based programs that enable students to overcome obstacles, focus on their education, and, ultimately, to succeed in life. Youth Guidance is shifting from direct service to a model that equips school-based staff to deliver a social-emotional learning curriculum to middle and high-school youth of color living in low-income urban communities across the US. The model is based on Youth Guidance’s Becoming a Man and Working on Womanhood programs, which are both shown to decrease violent crime arrests, increase high-school graduation rates, and reduce trauma-related distress, anxiety, and depression.

Learn more about Youth Guidance