New & Noteworthy

The W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation awarded approximately $5 million in grants in 2023. Please visit our Grants Awarded section for detailed descriptions.

Our organizations, The Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing and The Hyams Foundation, are movement funders that share a common set of assumptions about the nature of power and the role that progressive philanthropy must play in defending democracy. As women of color and leaders of movement foundations, we are preoccupied with the question: What role should progressive philanthropy play in responding to the rise of repressive, authoritarian policies that threaten the lives and well-being of the communities we are accountable to?

Stone provided funding for the Early Years Climate Action Task Force. Dora Ramos is a family child care provider in Stamford, Connecticut, where the temperature climbed above 90 degrees for a few days in July. She takes care of children in her home, which has a large backyard, and was able to adapt, still getting the children outside, even on the hottest days. “Our parents bring the children at 7:10 a.m., so we bring them outside very early — first thing,” she said. “We have sprinklers; they use the hose to fill up pots with water and ‘cook.’” But in Dallas, where the high hit 110 degrees on August 18, it wasn’t safe or possible to play outside for weeks-long stretches this summer, said Cori Berg, the director of Hope Day School, a preschool there. “It was cranky weather for sure,” she said. “What most people don’t really think about is what it’s like for a child in a center. They’re cooped up in one room for hours and hours and hours.”

Youth organizer Maria Paula Degillo used to protest in downtown Chicago against the high rates of suspensions and expulsions for students of color. Now, she collaborates with Chicago Public Schools to create safe school environments without harsh discipline and over policing. Today, Degillo, with the group Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, is joining the district’s Chief of Safety and Security Jadine Chou at a City Club of Chicago event to highlight the partnership forged between the district and community organizations over the course of the last decade to improve school safety.

On Saturday, $39 billion in federal child-care funds made available through the American Rescue Plan Act are set to expire. As a result, close to 3.2 million children could lose their spots in early education programs. Congress can solve this problem. So far, however, it has declined to do so, starting with deciding not to pass the Build Back Better provisions in 2022 that would have made child-care funding permanent.

The Massachusetts Legislature is listening! Last week, the Joint Committee on Education held an informational hearing on early education and care in Massachusetts. Thanks to Committee Co-Chairs, Representative Denise Garlick and Senator Jason Lewis for organizing the hearing and listening to many different perspectives on the state of early education and care across the state. A recording of the event is posted here. Speaking at the hearing, Patrick Tutwiler, the state’s education secretary, said that as Massachusetts moves through the pandemic, it is essential “stabilize, heal, and transform” early education and care.

Sandra Treacy (Executive Director, 1999-2013) died peacefully in her sleep at her home in San Francisco on September 17th, 2023 with her husband Robert and son Daniel by her side. ...In 1999, Sandra began the last leg of her employment career as the Executive Director of a family foundation, the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation, awarding grants in the areas of education, early education, and youth development. In selecting initiatives to fund, Sandra scoured the country to identify exemplary organizations and to award grants to nonprofits with innovative approaches to effecting positive change. In doing so, she drew upon her wealth of experience in the field of education as well as her appreciation of the challenges faced by nonprofits working within that field. In all of leadership positions, Sandra was an innovative thinker, an articulate communicator, and a generous mentor. Her grace, style, fortitude and verve were an inspiration to many.

As the Latino population grows beyond the borders of the city, Latinos are an increasingly essential part of the Chicago region’s social and economic fabric.

In 2013, California passed the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The funding formula is intended to improve student outcomes and increase equity by providing more resources to districts with larger populations of low-income students, English language learners, and foster youth. Additionally, LCFF requires that stakeholder groups, including students, are included as districts develop their Local […]