School Reform Network Shutters National Office
From guest blogger Gina Cairney
The Public Education Network has announced plans to close its national office in Washington, D.C., today, after 21 years of working to help all children—especially minority and disadvantaged children—have access to quality education. The announcement did not give a reason for the national office's closing.
But PEN's network of independent, community-based, nonprofit organizations called local education funds, will continue working with their school districts and local communities in high-poverty areas—much as they did before PEN was formed, Amanda Broun, PEN's former senior vice president, said in an email.
The LEFs were first started with funding from the New York-based Ford Foundation in 1983 as a response to the landmark "A Nation At Risk" report, Broun said, with the intention of