NewSchools Venture Fund has announced the launch NewSchools Catapult, the first endeavor of its new national strategy. Its goal over the next several years is to propel successive waves of education entrepreneurs to launch new schools – the kinds of audacious, life-altering schools that can truly prepare students to pursue their most ambitious dreams.
The focus is on schools that serve significant numbers of underserved students in grades PreK-12 and will be operated by (a) early-stage charter networks for which this would be their first or second school or (b) district-operated schools with sufficient autonomy and support to realize their vision.
To help prepare school teams at similar stages to plan and launch successfully, NewSchools Catapult has been separated into two distinct phases:
- Phase 1: Invent: A 6-10 month program designed to support school teams during the year prior to launching a new school. Teams selected for this phase will receive financial support (averaging around $100,000), targeted assistance and a cohort experience with others at a similar stage of development. All teams who participate in Invent will be working toward developing an application for Launch, though some will decide to postpone or abandon their launch plans.
- Phase 2: Launch: A highly competitive 2 1/2 year program designed to support school teams for the months leading up to launch through their second year of operation. In addition to continuing to receive ongoing assistance and a cohort experience, teams selected for this phase will receive financial support (investments vary widely based on factors such as seat count and local funding conditions, but averaging around $400,000).
School teams with aspirations to launch a new school in fall 2016 can use the Invent 2015 application to apply. Later this fall, NSVF will release the Launch 2016 application, which will provide a larger investment to support the first two years of a new school that opens in fall 2016. Schools that receive an Invent 2015 investment will receive priority for this program.
Learn more and apply here: http://bit.ly/catapult15
