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The Impact of the 2024 STOP for Education Miami Accelerator
October 2024
Florida is known as the Sunshine State, but it was our 25 STOP-enabled semifinalists who truly shined during the jam-packed 2024 STOP for Education, Miami Accelerator. Powered by the Center for Education Reform in partnership with Forbes, GSV, and Academica, the semifinalists learned from over thirty of the best, the boldest, and the brightest of business, education leadership, policy, and more.
From South Dakota to Massachusetts and many states in between, the education innovators said this experience “has changed the way I approach situations and consider working through complex problems” “I now better understand the intersection between education, business, and sustainability.” Another said: “This has been the single best professional development I have ever experienced in my thirty years of being in education.”
Mayor Francis Suarez – who joined for a second year in a row – welcomed everyone to Miami and reminded the audience that “education is the most powerful democratizing force for prosperity in the world. Full stop.” Pastor Josh Robertson of Black Pastors United for Education and a 2023 Finalist for the Yass Prize was one of the twelve alumni who gave of their time, talent, and expertise to present small-group breakout sessions to the newly inducted awardees. In his remarks, Pastor Josh shared, “I should be a statistic. I was able to matriculate through our current school system and could have failed. We have a problem. I think our public deserves educational options that customize education and our job is to protect their future.”
Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College—America’s oldest historically black college west of the Mississippi River—shared what he has learned about leadership: “Nothing great comes from places of comfort. Nothing ever has, and nothing ever will.” Michael Sorrell returned to Miami for the third year in a row, and is one of the top-rated speakers from the convening.
Another critical part of the accelerator is the intensive focus on pitch preparation. Semifinalists had small group feedback and practice sessions with Renee Delos Santos, Head of Communications at Stemuli, who gave individualized, actionable feedback. And joining us in-person for the first time, Roger Love of VoicePlace, brought down the house. He not only shared that “a great speaker moves people from motion to emotion and then influences them. A great speaker controls the perception of their listeners.” but then also brought several semifinalists forward to give them live voice coaching on how to better alter their pitch, volume, and tone to portray the emotion and message they want to resonate with the audience.
Within the three days of learning and the four virtual sessions leading up to Miami, these semifinalists mastered how to hone their story about their personal “why” and how it melds with their professional “why”. Before they each made their pitch, awardees were encouraged to “Look at every slide and say, ‘So what?’”
The judges evaluated the “what” of every pitch as the twenty five semifinalists vie for the newly minted STOP Awards, a first, second and third prize award amounting to a total of $40,000. The award recipients will be announced at the STOP for Education: Power of Innovation Summit in Washington DC on November 7th.
If you are looking truly to be motivated, captivated and inspired, you need to meet this Yass Class of 2024- the new STOP for Education Alumni – when they and dozens of prior STOP Alum will convene November 7th in Washington to DC to chart a course for the new Administration and all the policymakers around the country who need to focus on STOPing for Education! Learn more and sign up here!
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The Yass Foundation advances the four core STOP principles: Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless education. Each year, the Foundation will reward dozens of organizations, building a growing network of innovative providers that
demonstrate these qualities in their commitment to new ideas, technologies, and approaches to learning that bring education into
the 21st century. The Foundation is powered by the Center for Education Reform (CER) in partnership with Forbes.
We used the Yass Prize to launch a program called Skypod catalyst, which is essentially an accelerator to help other people start microschools.
We believe very much that microschools should be bottoms up, they come from the community. They're founded by educators who know their community really well. And they want to design a learning environment for the kids in that community.
The Yass Prize has significantly impacted the trajectory of our organization.
When we originally applied, we simply provided supplemental support services to homeschooling families. Now, we are growing into an education network that provides community, coaching, and curriculum nationwide.
The Yass Award is about celebrating and rewarding those who make students the priority.”
Having the status of Yass Prize Semifinalist has opened doors that we’ve been knocking on for years,
including public recognition from our Governor and partnership conversations with other education innovators from around the country.
It might be the first time you’re speaking where everyone is actually listening and cares about what you’re doing.
I don’t think I’ve been in a room as supportive as the Yass Prize Semifinalist room in Miami.
I'm a Yass Prize finalist from last year.
And through that, we were able to open up our second campus in the city of Wichita.
I’m dreaming bigger, bolder, and more bodacious [because of the Yass Prize].
It has helped me raise the ceiling on what’s possible.
We have a tremendously transformative model that could stand for a little disruption.
The Yass experience has given us “permission” to do exactly that.
There is absolutely zero downside to being a part of this network by submitting your application and what you will encounter is unlike any other grant.
It's actually mind blowing. I really see myself as an education entrepreneur, but this expanded me.
The Yass Prize is centered around ensuring that this [program] provides you a stepping stone...
We don’t want you to rinse, wash, repeat. We want you to build and sustain.
The foundation of any society is a good education.
Education is one of the most fundamental pillars for democratizing opportunities for success that we have in our society.
It’s thanks to organizations like the Yass Prize that our children are going to have a better tomorrow.
One of the missions of the Yass Prize and the Yass Prize movement is really surfacing best practices in innovation—
in innovators who are doing this type of transformational work, so that others can learn from it and replicate it, so that you can actually grow yourselves.
If you're committed to wanting to be one of the change makers of the future in education, I believe that this is a place for you.
Not only because of the capital, but because of the knowledge that comes by communing with the diverse group of people as opposed to everybody that thinks the exact same way that you might think.
Being a part of the [Yass] family confirmed that what I'm doing is right,
going against the common core and focusing on what we know is important for kids really works, and having a network of people now that also agree was super huge.
Yass brought us together, creating opportunities to create an educational universe within which we can look at education differently…
we have to find academic experiences that represent neuro-divergent learners, kids who want to learn about gaming, who want to do stuff online, who dropped out of school.
Because of the Yass Prize, we were able to add an additional pre-K classroom.
The Yass Prize process has created an awareness of the education freedom movement within churches and communities.
It's given us an opportunity to start critical discussions with our congregations, parents, community leaders and members, about the laws that govern education in Pennsylvania.
In a state where alternative education is often overlooked, the Yass community helps us shine.
The Yass Prize has empowered our youth, families and community by bringing great visibility to our efforts.
Being a part of the [Yass] family confirmed that what I'm doing is right,
focusing on what we know is important for kids really works, and having a network of people now that also agree was super huge.
The Yass Prize is truly changing the landscape of education options across the nation,
and I couldn't be more grateful for what it's done for us, and helping us serve more students and families.
The Yass Prize has brought together such diverse leaders
from all different demographics, all different states, all different service provider types that you can learn from.
Our newest endeavor – that was part of our Yass Prize initiative – we're bringing career and technical education into the school
I'm in the process of going through the construction of a 20,000 square foot $11.5 million dollar building dedicated to career and technical education for the students in the Philadelphia region.
Being a part of this experience has amplified the access we can give to our students in a way that nothing has, and the access is just critical.
The Yass Prize is almost like Burning Man for education reform.
Everyone knows that without great education, our nation suffers.
Great education is a vital link for students to become successful citizens.
Believe in your mission… Ground yourself… Never give up…
When we follow the money, it’s ludicrous how this country is getting away with funding education.
The funding is not following children. We're trying to make better options for kids, for poor kids, middle class kids. Wealthy people have this choice, they opt out of their systems easily, why shouldn't all children have that choice?