KIPP Lynn to benefit from grant money

LYNN – Part of a $10 million federal grant received Thursday by the KIPP Foundation will help pay for operating the organization’s Lynn academy and administrative costs associated with its Lynn high school that is scheduled to open next year.The federal dollars arrived in the form of a Scale-UP grant from the Department of Education’s i3 Fund. Steve Mancini, KIPP Foundation’s public affairs director and a former board member of the KIPP Academy in Lynn, said the grant coupled with matching funds from contributors will help KIPP double in size over the next decade, while sharing the best practices for leadership development and training.The actual grant totals $50 million over five years, said Mancini, noting KIPP was required to come up with a 20 percent match, or $10 million.”We were able to do that,” he said. “KIPP, the national organization with 99 schools, can use the money for training and support.”This is a remarkable vote of confidence in KIPP, both by the federal government and by some of the country’s leading philanthropists,” said KIPP Foundation CEO Richard Barth. “What’s been most exciting about the effort has been the new funders and funding commitments that this grant has helped inspire.”The i3 Fund provides competitive grants designed to encourage innovation in American education. In keeping with the i3 Fund’s commitment to involve new philanthropic interests in education reform, $6 million of the $10 million match came from first-time donors to the KIPP Foundation.Among these first-time supporters are The Wallace Foundation in New York City, which pledged $2 million; the Bezos Family Foundation in Seattle, which also committed $2 million; and the San Francisco Bay Area-based Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, which pledged $1 million. Other new donors include The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation, the Robin Hood Foundation and the Chamberlin Family Foundation.The remainder of the matching funds came as new gifts from established KIPP Foundation donors. New Profit Inc. joined the Wallace and Bezos Family Foundations as an anchor funder with a $2 million grant, while the Laura and John Arnold Foundation pledged $1 million. CityBridge and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation also contributed to round out the $10 million match.”The good news, locally, is the support from New Profit, Inc., which is in Cambridge,” said Mancini. “When we get $50 million nationally, places like KIPP Lynn can draw down on the funds for supporting growth and supporting sustainability. The money can be used to train leaders, which is what is happening now with Drea DeAngelo, the woman who will be the principal of the public charter high school in Lynn.”DeAngelo, an award-winning educator at KIPP Academy Lynn, is currently completing a Fisher Fellowship, one of 12 educators selected to participate in the prestigious yearlong leadership training program. DeAngelo’s school will be the first KIPP high school in New England, just as KIPP Academy Lynn (KAL) was New England’s first KIPP school, opening in 2004.Starting in 2012, Lynn’s two KIPP schools will occupy a new 68,000-square-foot campus on High Rock Street in the Highlands neighborhood. The new “green” building will consist of separate middle and high school wings – complete with science and computer labs, a media center and breakout rooms – as well as a full-size gymnasium. KAL is currently located on the grounds of the Holy Family Church at 25 Bessom St.”I couldn’t be more excited to have Drea as one of this year’s Fisher Fellows,” said Josh Zoia, executive director of KAL. “She is an invaluable part of our school’s faculty and leadership team and I know she’s going to do a fantastic job as the leader of our new high school.”DeAngelo received her bachelor degree from Colby College and most recently served as 7th grade math teacher, Grade Level Chairman and Math Department Chairman at KAL. She won a 2009 Excellence in Teaching award from the KIPP Foundation.”This Fisher Fellowsh