Our purpose is to support these teachers and to provide needed collaboration and resources. It’s not at all easy to teach toward the “outcome” of a life-long benefit. Beyond the subject matter of a class, there are those who inspire the love of learning for its own sake. They reach inside to the ‘wide-eyed learner’ within. They encourage keen examination and critical thinking.

We support learning that is designed to make its way beyond the classroom walls.

The challenge is to prepare our youth for a fast-changing world. Chances are, they’ll be working in an organization and at a job that doesn’t exist just yet. Invention and innovation are increasingly group activities requiring excellent communication and collaboration skills – all moving at warp speed. They’ll have to recover quickly from failures. They’ll have to adapt, learn and re-learn, and then re-learn again. They’ll have to embrace balance and perspective.

Our model begins with “Happy, Healthy, and Productive.” We evaluate submissions and requests for funding with that simple axiom in mind. How will this program help a person live a happier, healthier, more productive life? Then we delve into the particulars to understand its curriculum design, its tools, goals, and progression toward desired outcomes. And we ask, “Is this designed in such a way as to be transformative, and is there any history proving that?”

In our view, one key indicator of a successful program is an increase in the willingness and ability to ‘give-back.’ If participants are more adept at caring for themselves and their families, if they are more willing to participate and contribute back to their communities, then, in good part, we’ll consider that a success.