Today at Cornell Tech’s Verizon Executive Education Center, Siegel Family Endowment Vice President and Head of Grantmaking, Joshua Elder, announced New Visions for Public Schools and Xchange Chicago as the Learning Landscape Challenge grand-prize winners. He made the announcement at the culminating challenge Demo Day, during which the five Phase 3 teams presented their education infrastructure solutions to an audience of education funders, innovators, policymakers, and advocates. Each grand-prize winner will receive $500,000 to support implementation and scaling.
“Both of these winning initiatives reflect what we believe is essential to building a more equitable future: investing in multidimensional infrastructure that supports people, systems, and ideas all at once,” said Joshua Elder. “These projects weren’t designed for the easiest circumstances and that’s exactly why they work. When we design with complexity in mind, we create stronger systems for everyone.”
The grand-prize winners
The Learning Landscapes Challenge congratulates the grand-prize winners:
New Visions for Public Schools — This system for coordinating student data and wraparound services aims to decrease absenteeism and improve academic and life outcomes for youth living in New York City shelters. By integrating parent-school communication, AI-driven student needs monitoring, and check-ins with trusted adults, New Visions for Public Schools, in collaboration with New York City Public Schools and other city agencies, is developing a holistic support model to drive student success.
Xchange Chicago, Inc. — This experiential learning model is bridging the gap between classroom education and tech careers by providing opportunities for students to acquire essential industry skills. By integrating an in-person innovation hub on the Comer Education Campus with an IT delivery center that provides local apprenticeships, Xchange Chicago is leveraging tailored project- and work-based learning experiences to create accessible pathways into rewarding tech careers.
“These two solutions show what’s possible when communities come together to design innovative learning experiences that meet the unique needs of students and families,” said Jamie Jutila, Senior Program Officer at the Walton Family Foundation. “They are rooted in local context but offer ideas that can be adapted and scaled to create meaningful change in other communities as well.”
The journey to Demo Day
Launched in February 2024, the challenge drew 272 Phase 1 submissions from teams across 44 states and U.S. territories. From that initial cohort, 40 Phase 2 teams received $5,000 each and an invitation to participate in a 14-week virtual accelerator. Five Phase 2 winners then received $200,000 each and entered the Phase 3 incubator, which kicked off with an in-person boot camp in January 2025. Over the six-month incubator, these teams have prototyped their solutions and developed implementation roadmaps — all leading to today’s presentations.
Multidimensional infrastructure can transform learning
The initial response and subsequent challenge phases have shown us that education innovation isn’t scarce — it’s everywhere. But too often, the most promising innovations remain isolated and inaccessible to the students who would benefit from them most.The Learning Landscapes Challenge asked changemakers to propose solutions that help integrate impactful learning experiences across in-school, virtual, and community contexts, meeting more students where they are. The grand-prize winners demonstrate how multidimensional solutions — integrating physical, digital, and social infrastructure — can provide vital connective tissue that transforms learning for students.
“Siegel and Walton are proud of the leadership, creativity, and commitment that both New Visions and Xchange brought to this challenge and equally proud of the community we’ve built along the way,” said Katy Knight, Executive Director and Vice President at Siegel Family Endowment. “This wasn’t just about identifying promising solutions. It was about showing how open calls like this can surface what’s already working, inspire bold new thinking, and help communities come together around multidimensional approaches that truly meet the needs of students and families.”
Thank you to the Phase 3 judges
The Learning Landscapes Challenge team thanks the distinguished Phase 3 judges for contributing their time and expertise to reimagining the future of K-12 learning:
- Bianca Alvarado, M.A., Director, San Diego STEM Pathways Initiative at Digital Promise
- Valerie Braimah, M.Ed., Senior Associate Partner, Innovative Schools at NewSchools Venture Fund
- Andrew Frishman, Ed.L.D., Co-Executive Director at Big Picture Learning
- Babak Mostaghimi, Ed.L.D., Founding Partner at LearnerStudio
- Dr. Andrew Rice, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Education Analytics
The team also extends its gratitude to the Phase 1 and Phase 2 judges whose insights helped shape this journey, and to the numerous mentors who supported teams through the accelerator and incubator phases.
Looking ahead
As we celebrate today’s winners, we look forward to the broader impact this challenge community will catalyze. The Phase 3 teams, judges, mentors, and other participating teams have come to see themselves as part of something bigger: a movement to reimagine how infrastructure can serve as the foundation for equitable, effective learning. The emerging community behind this movement will outlast the challenge, driving more innovation at the intersection of infrastructure and education. Stay tuned for broader reflections on Demo Day and the Learning Landscapes Challenge in the coming weeks.