Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC) recently announced the recipients of the 2025 Boulder Fund, a multimillion-dollar grant program investing in innovative leaders of color committed to ensuring young people of color have opportunities to build generational wealth and thrive. Since its inception in 2018, the Boulder Fund has committed $6.9 million in grants, supporting 50 organizations nationwide.
“Nationwide, leaders of color are driving progress in their communities—expanding educational access, strengthening economic opportunity, and breaking cycles of poverty,” said Nancy B. Gutiérrez, EdLoC Board Chair. “But too often, they are left to do this work without the resources needed. Now is the time for philanthropic institutions to join us in investing in leaders closest to the challenges and best suited to catalyze generational change in their communities and our country.”
Grants were awarded to leaders who offer novel solutions to persistent barriers of systemic oppression, marginalization, and misrepresentation in communities of color across the nation, which include solutions to increasing access and interest in STEM, leadership and professional development for educators and youth, and financial literacy for high school students. These grants fill a particular vacuum in funding, as many institutions have recently rolled back funding and programming aimed at addressing racial inequities across the nation.
“In a time when philanthropy, educational institutions, media, and corporations are incentivized by our social and political landscape to deprioritize racial and economic justice, EdLoC remains resolute in investing in leaders offering transformative solutions that advance opportunity for communities and young people of color through the Boulder Fund,” said Sharhonda Bossier, CEO of EdLoC. “Whether acknowledged or ignored by the greater philanthropic community, systemic inequities hinder societal progress. The Boulder Fund invests in leaders and solutions that our young people, communities, and country need to succeed.”
The 2025 recipients reflect the EdLoC’s membership network, composed of fellow founders, CEOs, entrepreneurs, PhDs, and more from 40+ states and the District of Columbia, driving progress at the local, state, and federal levels.
The 2025 Boulder Fund recipients are:
• Ethan Ashley, Co-founder and CEO of
School Board Partners
• Maia Blankenship and Dr. Erika McDowell,
Co-CEOs of Black Wildflowers Fund
• Gisele Castro, CEO of Exalt Youth*
• Jonathan Johnson, Founder and CEO of
Rooted School Foundation*
• Dr. Laura McGowan-Robinson, Founder and
CEO of Diversity in Leadership Institute*
• Devin Morris, Co-Founder and Executive
Director of The Teachers’ Lounge, Inc.*
• Tanesha Peeples, Founder and CEO of The
Roots Initiative
• Gabriel Reyes, Founder and CEO of FLi Sci
• Sarah White, Founder and Executive Director
of the South Dakota Education Equity
Coalition
• Andrea Wolfe, President and CEO of Mass
Insight Education & Research
“The Boulder Fund has been catalytic to supporting the world’s first-ever randomized control trial examining the effectiveness of direct cash assistance to high school students,” said Jonathan Johnson, founder, and CEO of Rooted School Foundation, an organization that hosts The $50 Study, a direct cash transfer program where high school students receive $50 per week for 40 weeks as part of their mission to build evidence-based approaches to closing the racial wealth gap. “Our early findings show that students receiving these transfers miss fewer days of school and demonstrate improved financial capability.” Said Johnson
For more information, please visit https://www.edloc.org/the-boulder-fund.