Announcing the Phase 2 winners - Learning Landscapes Challenge

Today, Siegel Family Endowment and the Walton Family Foundation are thrilled to announce five Phase 2 winners that will receive $200,000 each and advance to the Phase 3 incubator in the Learning Landscapes Challenge. These winners emerged from an exceptional cohort of 40 Phase 2 accelerator teams with transformative visions for K-12 educational infrastructure.

“The future of education isn’t about choosing between digital, in-school, or community-based learning — it’s about connecting all three,” said Jamie Jutila, Senior Program Officer at the Walton Family Foundation. “But that kind of integration requires intentional investment in infrastructure, particularly for underserved communities and students for whom these connections have long been missing. Our Phase 2 winners show us what’s possible when we make those investments: flexible, coherent education experiences that meet students where they are and how they learn.”

Through varied approaches, Phase 2 winners are integrating physical, digital, and social infrastructure to bridge classrooms with communities and ensure that all students can access highly effective learning experiences. The challenge team congratulates each of the Phase 2 winners:

Empower Schools — This Multi-Sector Collaboration aims to increase wellbeing and economic growth for individuals and communities throughout Indiana. By connecting healthcare training facilities, virtual classrooms, and industry partnerships, this team, led by Empower Schools, is creating direct pathways and expanding opportunities for K-12 students — especially from rural, low-income, and Hispanic backgrounds — to enter high-wage healthcare careers.

Joy Education Foundation — This Virginia-based pop-up reading hub aims to boost literacy confidence among students living in high-poverty, low-literacy communities. By partnering with community hosts, repurposing buses, and using AI to match students with tailored tutoring, Joy Education Foundation’s mobile and virtual reading clinics seek to foster a love for lifelong learning.

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.

Perkins School for the Blind — This integrated transition program aims to develop academic and pre-employment competencies among high school students across the country who are blind or visually impaired. By connecting a virtual college success program, in-community vocational exploration, and a residential learning space, Perkins School for the Blind is integrating the structures and resources needed to support students’ transitions to independence.

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.

Future-ready learning infrastructure

As we look toward the future of learning, we see a landscape defined by its flexibility and student-centricity. While schools will remain vital, effective learning will also take place in a variety of other community spaces, both physical and digital. The Phase 2 winners are embracing this flexibility — championing learning experiences that include mobile reading labs and training facilities co-located with industry partners — to meet students where, when, and how they learn.

But it’s not enough to embrace innovative learning models. We also need to make them available to the students at greatest risk of being left behind. That’s why it’s important to invest in the infrastructure for coherently integrating digital, in-school, and community learning experiences that serve students equitably, at scale. Each of the Phase 2 winners is taking an innovative approach to educational infrastructure, proposing a range of multidimensional infrastructure solutions — from innovative hubs for hands-on learning to interoperable and AI-supported data systems. The teams are designing these solutions to deliver impactful education experiences to students who have been historically underserved by our educational system, including students with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, and students of color in both urban and rural communities.

“Education infrastructure — or lack thereof — has too often been the invisible barrier between students and lifelong opportunity, but this can mean different things for different communities” said Joshua Elder, Vice President and Head of Grantmaking at Siegel Family Endowment. “We launched this challenge to ask communities themselves to show us what future-ready K-12 learning environments should look like. By addressing persistent barriers to access, the Phase 2 winners are creating scalable solutions that can drive equitable, long-term student success.”

The Learning Landscapes Challenge

It began with a question: Do you have an idea that could transform learning for students? In February 2024, SFE and WFF launched the Learning Landscapes Challenge and put this question directly to communities across America — and hundreds answered. The breadth and creativity of Phase 1 submissions demonstrated that communities already understand how integrated infrastructure can expand learning opportunities for students. What they needed to put that infrastructure into place were partnerships, technical support, and financial investment — all of which the challenge is uniquely suited to provide.

From those original submissions, 40 teams received $5,000 each and an invitation to participate in the 14-week Phase 2 virtual accelerator. Through six modules covering topics from experience design and prototyping to developing pathways to scale, the accelerator teams had access to mentorship and technical support as they worked to validate their assumptions, refine their proposed solutions, and formalize new and existing partnerships.

After a two-step judging process, five Phase 2 winners have been selected to receive $200,000 each and advance to the Phase 3 incubator. Each of the Phase 3 teams has developed a comprehensive solution that strategically connects digital, physical, and social infrastructure to remove long-standing barriers to student success.

Looking ahead: the Phase 3 incubator

The Phase 3 teams will now enter a six-month incubator and receive highly tailored support as they move from planning to prototyping and implementation. Beginning with an in-person boot camp in January 2025, the incubator will provide the teams with technical assistance to prototype and implement their concepts, build sustainable funding streams, and create roadmaps to support scalability. The Phase 3 teams will also need to provide early evidence of potential impact through the measurement of leading indicators, including a plan for rigorous outcome measurement and iteration based on those learnings.

The incubator will culminate in summer 2025 with a live Demo Day, at which teams will present their solutions to education leaders, potential funders, and implementation partners. Up to two grand-prize winners will receive $500,000 each to support implementation of their solutions at scale.

While only five teams are advancing to Phase 3, the entire accelerator cohort revealed the depth of innovation happening in communities across America. Through website and newsletter updates, we will keep the broader Learning Landscapes Challenge community apprised of opportunities to collaborate with Phase 2 teams throughout and beyond the challenge.