Our Services

  • Group of children jumping and smiling outdoors on a school playground.

    Launching New Opportunity Schools

    We partner with visionary charter networks to launch high-impact schools in the communities that need them most. From identifying the right city to laying the groundwork for success, we provide end-to-end support to ensure each new Opportunity School is rooted in local needs and built to thrive.

  • A young man in a graduation cap and gown stands between a woman and a man, his parents, all smiling. The graduate is wearing a colorful stole and a lei. The background features a gymnasium with banners and balloons.

    Driving What Works — From Schools to System

    We help school leaders and policymakers put proven practices into action. By connecting them to our national network of high-performing models and trusted experts, we support the implementation of transformative practices at the school level—and the policies that make them possible at the state level.

  • Five diverse professionals standing together at a meeting or conference, smiling for the camera in a room with a patterned wallpaper and a presentation screen in the background displaying 'Groundswell Network' and the date May 9, 2023.

    Centering Community Needs

    Great schools start with deep understanding of the families they serve. We equip community leaders and partners with the tools to identify what students furthest from opportunity truly need—through landscape analyses, asset mapping, feasibility studies, and more—turning insight into action.

  • Teacher assisting a classroom group of students in a school classroom.

    Powering a National Movement

    We’re building the nation’s only network dedicated to scaling high-impact Opportunity Schools. Our partners gain access to innovative school models, effective policies, research-backed strategies, and a powerful community of education innovators committed to reimagining what’s possible.

Work With Us

Current Projects

The projects below reflect just a few examples of how Groundswell is working across the country to expand access to Opportunity Schools. Each represents a different way we support communities—from designing new schools to supporting policymakers.

Group of diverse people wearing matching black T-shirts with the slogan "RIDE WITH THE ROCK" posing for a group photo indoors.

Tennessee

Launching New Opportunity Schools in Memphis
What began as a 2022 feasibility study in Nashville has led to the launch of new Opportunity Charter Schools in Tennessee. This work has included supporting the passage of Opportunity Charter Schools legislation and collaboration with state leadership on the development of accountability and performance frameworks for these schools.

Now, we are focused on supporting two of the nation’s leading Opportunity School charter networks, Urban Dove from new York City, and Opportunity Youth Network from Newark, NJ, as they work to open new schools in Memphis for the city’s most challenged students.

A diverse group of students and a teacher gathered indoors, raising their fists together in solidarity, with some wearing backpacks and one person in a hooded sweatshirt.

Oklahoma and Arkansas

Partnering with Community Leaders
Groundswell has kicked off a project in Oklahoma and Arkansas to learn from city and state leaders about the current educational landscape for opportunity youth in those states. A series of in-depth community conversations with students, families, grassroots advocates, community-based organizations, and statewide leaders is buildign toward a strategic plan for next steps in providing high-quality options to highest-need students.

Group of six students studying together at a table with notebooks and papers.

Texas

Designing Innovative Opportunity School Models in San Antonio
In partnership with Braination, a network of schools in Texas, Groundswell is working on an Opportunity High School design which will help Braination reach a whole new group of students in San Antonio. Currently, Braination offers two kinds of models to its communities: schools in residential facilities such as juvenile detention centers, as well as open enrollment K-12 schools with an inquiry-based design that nurtures curiosity and personal progress. Now, Braination is ready to draw on lessons from both and develop a high school model designed from the ground up for opportunity youth.