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Developing a Culture Where Students Thrive
The Alliance Schools strategy grew out of relationships between community institutions and the public schools in their neighborhoods to organize parents, principals, and teachers in under-resourced schools. An independent Annenberg study documented significant gains in trust, collegiality, shared purpose, and student test performance from efforts by Austin Interfaith (now Central Texas Interfaith). The model was replicated across the West/Southwest.
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Expanding Access to Quality Early Education in Colorado
In 2025, Mountain Voices Project educated and mobilized thousands of families in Colorado's Roaring Fork Valley to leverage a $12 million public investment to reduce childcare costs, raise wages for early childhood educators, and expand preschool availability.
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Increasing Funding for Public Schools in Texas and Arizona
In 1983, Texas IAF leaders pushed the legislature to take up school finance reform and played a critical role in passing House Bill 72, the state’s first attempt at school finance equalization. Building on Alliance Schools, they later won the creation of the Investment Capital Fund, securing more than $50 million for teacher professional development, parent engagement, and after-school programs in public schools.
Over its history in Arizona, Valley Interfaith Project leveraged $473 million for public schools and after-school and summer recreational programs in Tempe, Scottsdale, El Mirage, Chandler, and Gilbert through a combination of local bonds, overrides, and local and state funding.
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Bridging the Digital Divide During the Pandemic in Colorado
In response to COVID-19, Coloradans for the Common Good and educator union allies secured $20 million for student digital infrastructure and broadened high-speed internet access for low-income and undocumented families nationwide.
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Advancing Accountability & Early Childhood Education in New Mexico
Albuquerque Interfaith worked with legislators to establish a new state Department of Early Childhood Education and replace a punitive A-F grading system with a diagnostic accountability model focused on improvement and student growth.
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Increasing Educational Attainment in San Antonio
Uniting businesses, communities, school districts, and universities, COPS/Metro leaders launched the San Antonio Education Partnership in 1989, providing college advising and scholarships to 3,000 public school students annually (more here).