Phase 1 winners

AdvanceCTE’s project will help state and local education leaders engage learners in their Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment process, drawing on principles of youth participatory action research, to ensure learner voice is authentically embedded in CTE decision-making.

Pathways: Scouting Outliers to Build Community Driven Innovation integrates virtual resources from Scoutlier with practical learning environments like FabLabs and innovation centers, transforming underutilized retail spaces into vibrant educational hubs that cater to diverse communities of K-12 stakeholders with a focus on workforce and nontraditional learning opportunities.

The Schoolyard Redevelopment Plan will allow students in grades K-8 the opportunity to explore nature play that is imaginative, constructive, sensory-rich, and cooperative — while also sustainably managing stormwater within a green infrastructure.

American High School provides incarcerated and at-risk youth with a specially designed educational program and career training, offering a second chance for success and preventing recidivism while helping students gain valuable skills and credentials.

Revolutionizing career support for the next generation, CareerVillage’s AI Career Coach offers personalized, impactful, 24/7 coaching, empowering individuals to navigate futures with confidence.

Chicago Public Schools will continue the development of its universal digital curriculum, Skyline, by leveraging generative AI to meet the individual needs of Chicago’s students and support teachers in their instructional practices.

Ed3 DAO's Learner Employment Record (LER) Utility Playbook will enable K-12 schools to dynamically recognize and verify competencies achieved from various learning environments, allowing for a more authentic, relevant, holistic, and personalized education for all learners.

Rural Alliance Zone 32 (RAZ-32) works to address the intersecting challenges of poor health outcomes, healthcare workforce shortages, and limited career access to ensure that East Central Indiana students — especially low-income and Hispanic students — can thrive and contribute to the region’s economic and cultural vitality.

ExpandED Schools will scale its Exploring Futures model, which offers career exploration opportunities for 35,000 middle school students in New York City through classroom activities and authentic career exposure events.

The Fab-hood Network is pioneering an initiative to transform STEM education by providing advanced digital fabrication tools that are accessible and culturally relevant, particularly for traditionally under-resourced communities.

FabNewport is growing an equitable, youth-centered ecosystem of learning that empowers children to impact their communities and realize their positive future visions.

Future Focused Education is developing an AI-enabled database platform that will function as civic infrastructure, supporting students, teachers, and administrators in implementing capstone projects and other project-based approaches in ways that center the language, cultural, and tribal sovereignty of the communities it supports.

The Junior Scientist Maker Program provides foundational STEM education and critical-thinking skills to elementary school students through a unique blend of world-class digital content, an inquiry-based learning curriculum, and community-based citizen science projects.

Groundwork San Diego Chollas Creek is designing innovative, interactive exhibits for its four-acre outdoor classroom to seamlessly integrate STEAM field trip experiences with indoor classroom learning.

Food Is Our Foundation: Youth-led Systems Change will instill the value of food at an early age, shifting power to youth and creating the knowledgeable leaders needed to build equitable food systems and food-resilient communities.

Joy Education provides mobile and virtual reading clinics and teaching clinics to enable caring adults and diverse communities of learners to engage in culturally responsive reading practice so that students become confident readers and lifelong learners.

Lift Orlando's holistic literacy education concept comprehensively addresses the diverse needs of readers alongside schools, teachers, and nonprofit partners while providing high-quality wraparound support for a child’s community and network.

Mesquite ISD will use AYO, an AI-powered platform, to match students with mentors and business partners, creating tailored pathways that connect students’ passions and aptitudes with future workforce needs.

NewComm is a community of learners from historically marginalized communities dedicated to enhancing their academic skills and strengthening neighborhoods through a practical and professional approach to literacy.

Every Child and Family is Known (ECFIK) improves outcomes for young people and families living in shelters in three critical areas — academic success, social and emotional support, and resource and benefits access — through a data-sharing collaboration and system for collecting and responding to family needs.

The QUESTion Project curriculum and teacher training empower public high school students to build the foundations of wellbeing: an authentic identity, the agency to shape their own lives and future, and a connection to purpose that can guide them with inspiration and possibilities.

Out Teach will develop a digitally supported professional learning journey to equip K-2 teachers as they center science teaching and learning anchored in outdoor phenomena.

The Early IT Microschool empowers traditionally underrepresented students in the STEM workforce to gain agency and confidence through future-ready high school and college coursework, reducing barriers to obtaining in-demand credentials and degrees, driving economic change in low-income communities, and preparing students for high-demand tech careers.

The Perkins Transition Center is equipping students with disabilities, their families, and educators across the United States with critical programs and resources to effectively support the transition to adulthood and help young people find their place in the world.

Playful Learning Landscapes Action Network (PLLAN) will work with Departments of Transportation to integrate playful learning elements into city infrastructure, which will support children and families in the places and spaces where they spend time.

The Concentric Collaborative Learning Ecosystem is a comprehensive, community-driven program designed to address educational inequities in Baltimore by integrating digital, in-school, and community-based learning experiences.

Rêve Academy will extend its career-connected learning pathway to empower and prepare traditionally underrepresented youth as they pursue careers in digital business innovation through digitized courses, paid work experiences, free college credit, and access to technology-focused boot camps.

Through a historic partnership with the National Park Service, Runway Green is building an experiential learning ecosystem on the grounds of a 1,000-acre national park in Brooklyn; it will support tens of thousands of NYC students in building skills and mindsets in sustainability as they earn badges and credentials in the green economy.

Schools That Can is developing an integrated infrastructure to establish ecosystems that will pave the way for 21st-century pathways to family-sustaining careers.

Sloyd & Croft Guild will provide a hyperlocal, diverse community of business, health, and faith leaders invested in the apprenticeship model with a communication platform, a blueprint to leverage resources, and a network of support to facilitate cross-disciplinary relationships. In doing so, it will transform education into a dynamic, community-driven process that inspires the next generation with real-world success stories, resulting in both personal and communal growth.

The Hope Accelerator is grounded in the science of hope and designed to create inclusive infrastructure that fosters hope, belonging, and personalized learning for high school students. The initiative cultivates authentic, real-world experiences tailored to students’ strengths, interests, and career preferences while leveraging community partnerships and transforming teacher-student relationships.

Summit Public Schools is establishing an open-source community to help schools automate data integration and use that data for informed decision-making to enhance student outcomes.

Thinking Nation specializes in innovative social studies curriculum, assessments, and professional development, with a mission to cultivate thinking citizens by empowering students to read closely, think deeply, and write persuasively.

trubel&co (pronounced "trouble and co") is a tech-justice nonprofit championing underserved youth to innovate for social change, equipping the next generation to tackle social and environmental disparities using data, design, and technology.

The Serious Game Design-athon Collaboratory will innovate digital and social infrastructure in education by leveraging new technologies such as AI, the engaging power of video games, and the untapped potential of including students in a community of multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary professionals.

Uprooted Academy is a digital third space that leverages game design and AI-powered learning to provide holistic counseling and connect students to a supportive virtual community, helping them navigate self-discovery, college, career, finances, and wellness.

Utah State University will collaborate with schools to develop inclusive indoor free-play spaces in response to challenges such as overcrowding, poor air quality, and rising temperatures.

Vanderbilt University and Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) are partnering to create human-centered, AI-empowered advising experiences that enhance college and career readiness — especially for historically marginalized students — through personalized digital, in-school, and community-based support.

By creating new educational infrastructure, including entrepreneurship hubs, youth coaches, digital learner profiles and micro-credentials, “Pathways to Courage, Curiosity, Connection, and Career” will reimagine the middle school experience in Salem, Massachusetts, and empower an integrated approach to both education and economic development.

Xchange Chicago, an onshore IT delivery center on Chicago's South Side, is building a scalable pathway into tech for thousands of underserved youths.