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
$8,500
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

Book’em wants and is being asked to expand our Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) program to some of MNPS’ pilot schools as part of the Blueprint/Literacy Collaborative. Our request: fund one new school (or equivalent) for RIF and support a fund development position on a short-term basis to build our capacity.

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

St. Luke’s Youth Education Program educates, empowers and equips 105 pre-K-8th graders with the education and skills they need to be successful. Through partnership with Preston Taylor Ministries and an emphasis on literacy and social and emotional learning, St. Luke’s provides quality care and education opportunities for Nashville students.

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

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Tennessee has been supported and sustained by Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation (GBBF) since 2004, ensuring that all Tennessee children, birth to five years old, have access to receive one age-appropriate book monthly, at no cost to the family and regardless of income.

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

Our Pre-K classroom is a Metro Public Schools classroom that is funded by Metro during the school year. Our Summer Pre-K Enrichment Program reinforces what the children have learned, adds enrichment activities, and provides a safe place for low income families to leave their children.

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

Summer 2018 scholars will be taught using the Children’s Defense Fund literacy curriculum. They will also engage in enrichment activities led by Nashville area video/web professionals and create a live-to-tape video broadcast and podcasts for presentation via Nashville Freedom Schools’ website and Facebook page, featuring firsthand interviews with Civil Rights giants living in Nashville, with scholars’ contributing original scripts, music, poetry, commentary and spoken word.

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: [email protected]