Education

Promoting equity in educational opportunities

From kindergarten to college, from afterschool programs to summer learning, from literacy to teacher pipeline, the Maddox Fund partners with education initiatives that advance student achievement because knowledge and education are transformative.

Check back in Fall 2022 for more information about our grant applications.

PENCIL reading clinic

Did you know?

Dan and Margaret graduated from high school, but college was economically out of reach for them. They understood how education creates paths to opportunity and wanted to create a way for low-income youth to realize their dreams.

Featured education partners

Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$75,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

MOBC Academic Student Unions provide academic case management and college preparation services for underserved high school youth at Stratford and Maplewood High, assisting youth with life-planning, ACT preparation, and college attainment activities, helping build support networks and patterns of success. Students in college access Post-Secondary Success persistence support in college.

Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$20,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

This program combines tutoring by certified teachers, innovative academic support software, and weekly one-on-one academic mentoring and intensive case management to ensure high drop-out risk Club members progress on time to the next grade level each year and graduate high school ready for college, trade school, military, or employment.

Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$5,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

This summer program is designed to expose rising 11th and 12th grade students to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Careers, and help prepare them for the standardized ACT Examination during a two-week period on the campus of Tennessee State University.

Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$25,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

Our goal is to address the achievement gap and prevent summer slide by helping students stay at their grade levels rather than lose academic skills over the summer. Students spend six weeks each summer on our campus engaged in a program that blends high quality academics with cultural enrichment.

Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$15,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

Lipscomb’s Pionero Scholars is an academic scholarship and outreach program that is a “grow your own” teacher pipeline for MNPS graduates. Six students are selected each year, with preference given to those from underrepresented backgrounds. We are selecting our third cohort this spring, with 12 students currently enrolled at Lipscomb.

Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$5,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

The 100 KINGS program began in the fall of 2003. A holistic program designed to provide academic enrichment and experiential learning projects for middle and high school males throughout Middle Tennessee on a year-long basis.

Jen Bailey is the Executive Director of the Dan and Margaret Maddox Fund, bringing her deep experience in community-based leadership, philanthropy, and movement-building to the organization.

Jen is the Founder of Faith Matters Network, a national Womanist-led organization accompanying spiritually-grounded leaders on their journey to heal themselves and their communities. Since its inception, Faith Matters Network has served over 25,000 leaders through its programs and initiatives. She is Co-Founder of The People’s Supper, a global initiative that has hosted over 2,000 gatherings in 135 communities to foster conversation and collective healing across lines of difference.

Committed to advancing social change through philanthropy and nonprofit leadership, Jen serves on the boards of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, the Fetzer Institute, and The Healing Trust, where she is the Board Chair.

An Ashoka Fellow, New Pluralist Field Builder, Aspen Ideas Scholar, On Being Fellow, and Truman Scholar, Jen holds degrees from Tufts University and Vanderbilt University Divinity School, where she was awarded the Wilbur F. Tillett Prize for accomplishments in the study of theology. Her work has been featured by On Being with Krista Tippett, CBS This Morning, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more. She is also the author of To My Beloveds: Letters on Faith, Race, Loss, and Radical Hope (Chalice Press, 2021).

email Jen: jen@maddoxfund.org