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.

Check back in Fall 2022 for more information about our grant applications.

PENCIL reading clinic

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

Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$15,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

In Edgehill, poverty and crime can be daily experiences. When a parent’s addiction, incarceration or health problems impede girl’s school and life success, ENP’s “The Spot” becomes a community of trust. As a Promise Zone leader, ENP proposes to expand The Spot as a model for neighborhoods addressing similar problems.

FIND design logo
Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$10,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

Both Empowered to F.L.Y. and its summer extension program, Rebuilt to F.L.Y aims to overcome risk factors that lead to a loss of classroom time due to attendance/disciplinary issues and social anxiety. This is achieved through social-emotional development in the form of mentoring, training, parent and community engagement, and advocacy.

Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$20,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

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.

Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$15,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

PtS educates and empowers Nashville’s under-resourced students through hands-on, garden-based learning in partnership with MNPS and public libraries. Our curriculum aligns gardening to language, literacy, math and science standards, as well as social-emotional learning. Students and teachers work side-by-side in the garden, fostering a strong sense of community and connection.

Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$10,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

Project Transformation’s afterschool literacy development program connects the potential of children with the mentorship of college-age young adults. Components of the program include activity-based literacy intervention, homework assistance, nutrition education, and healthy decision-making. Programs will be offered in three strategic low-income Nashville neighborhoods, serving 25 elementary students each.

Grant Year
2018
Grant Amount
$57,000
More info
Program Area
education
Program Description

CISTN embeds dedicated Site Coordinators inside Metro Nashville Public Schools to identify students who are chronically absent; establish strategic plans for the school and students; and broker needed services. Whether it’s empowering families, counseling or providing food, CISTN Site Coordinators surround low-income youth students with a community of support.

Jen Bailey is the Executive Director of the Dan and Margaret Maddox Fund, bringing her deep experience in community-based leadership, philanthropy, and movement-building to the organization.

Jen is the Founder of Faith Matters Network, a national Womanist-led organization accompanying spiritually-grounded leaders on their journey to heal themselves and their communities. Since its inception, Faith Matters Network has served over 25,000 leaders through its programs and initiatives. She is Co-Founder of The People’s Supper, a global initiative that has hosted over 2,000 gatherings in 135 communities to foster conversation and collective healing across lines of difference.

Committed to advancing social change through philanthropy and nonprofit leadership, Jen serves on the boards of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, the Fetzer Institute, and The Healing Trust, where she is the Board Chair.

An Ashoka Fellow, New Pluralist Field Builder, Aspen Ideas Scholar, On Being Fellow, and Truman Scholar, Jen holds degrees from Tufts University and Vanderbilt University Divinity School, where she was awarded the Wilbur F. Tillett Prize for accomplishments in the study of theology. Her work has been featured by On Being with Krista Tippett, CBS This Morning, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more. She is also the author of To My Beloveds: Letters on Faith, Race, Loss, and Radical Hope (Chalice Press, 2021).

email Jen: jen@maddoxfund.org