Locations
Flamboyan Foundation founders Kristin Ehrgood and Vadim Nikitine believe that involved and sustained focus on under-served issues is the best guarantee of social change. Working from the belief that providing every child with a great education best prepares them for success in life, Ehrgood and Nikitine decided to focus on improving education in two communities where they live and work: Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
Puerto Rico is the third largest school district in the country, with over 550,000 children and 1,500 schools. However, most U.S.-based foundations pay very little attention to the education system in Puerto Rico and, as such, Puerto Rico lags far behind in terms of student achievement. Comparatively, Washington, D.C. is much smaller and receives an enormous amount of attention. However, schools in the district consistently underperform in regards to student achievement, and there are enormous challenges in reversing that trend.
Therefore, we decided to go deeply into the education systems of these two communities, understand what areas were being overlooked, and find ways to create lasting change.
Puerto Rico
Flamboyan Foundation opened its doors in Puerto Rico in 2006 with the mission of improving local public schools and increasing effective philanthropic giving in PR. In 2011, out of 1,482 schools, 1,277 are not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress. Our students’ math scores on National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) are the worst in the country, with over 94% of 4th grade students below proficient.
Washington, D.C.
Flamboyan Foundation opened its doors in Washington, D.C. in 2008 with the mission of improving educational outcomes for children in some of the worst performing schools in the nation. On average, only 14% of 8th graders in the Washington, D.C. perform on grade level in reading1 and more than 90% of D.C. Public School students drop out of high school, never enter college, or fail to get a college degree.2