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.
Frequently Asked Questions
+ What is the Maddox Fund’s definition of “education”?
In general, the Maddox Fund is looking for programs that promote academic advancement and social emotional learning in Kindergarten through traditional college age students (5-25).
+ What type of education programs is Maddox interested in?
- Academic support and preparation programs, including tutoring services
- Programs that can demonstrate direct impact on academic success
- Summer or after-school academic enrichment
- Math and reading programs
- Literacy programs
- Positive decision-making programs
- Social-emotional learning that is not clinical counseling
- Programs may be provided in a formal school setting or in a setting external to school.
+ What type of education programs is Maddox less interested in?
- Programs for adults
- Parent education programs
- Early Childhood Programs
- Low-intensity programs with infrequent or short-duration participant contact
- GED/HiSET programs
- Arts or music education programs
- Programs focused on infants and toddlers
- Pre-K programs
- Counseling programs
- Post-secondary studies (i.e., graduate school, professional school)
- Independent Charter Schools without a CMO
- Independent Charter Schools without proven academic outcomes
- College assistance for adults
- Education programs that are general in nature (i.e., homebuyer’s education, health education, financial literacy, continuing education, animal population control education, arts education, etc.)
- School volunteer programs or PTSO organizations
The Fund will not support:
- Scholarships to specific institutions not previously supported by Dan and Margaret Maddox
- General scholarship programs
- Graduate school scholarship programs
- Infant and Toddler programs
+ Will the Maddox Fund support programs focused on parents and children together?
The Fund’s focus is on children and youth. Any proposal including parents and family (i.e., parent involvement in a child’s education, parent education, etc.) would need to demonstrate a direct benefit to children and youth and the stated outcomes would need to be child-centered. These proposals would likely be less competitive.
The Maddox Fund will not support family emergency assistance, including programs which provide rent and utility assistance, food and clothing.
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
The Stars of Bethlehem Program is a comprehensive year-round program for North Nashville children and youth in Kindergarten -8th Grade. The program provides a safe, supervised environment for these at-risk youth, providing academic tutoring and enrichment to ensure educational success, mentoring to ensure social success and health and fitness.
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.
United4Hope brings together faith-based organizations and public schools to see Nashville’s students thrive and our communities transformed by serving in four primary roles: student support, family engagement, staff encouragement, and in-kind contributions. The primary focus is on supporting MNPS Reading and Math Literacy initiatives and social-emotional support programs.
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.
Achievement in the Making (AIM) works with children on literacy, computer skills and math along with basic life skills. This program reaches out to socio-economically needy youth to give them a solid baseline in education for their future. The purpose is to teach them and encourage student self-sufficiency.
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.
