Committee of Advocates
The Newark Trust for Education (The Trust) is Newark's Local Education Fund (LEF) and one of over 80 LEF affiliates positively impacting the lives of over 12 million public children in 36 states.
The Trust was launched in January 2011 after a two-year process involving over 100 community stakeholders. The roots of Newark's first and only Local Education Fund can be traced, in part, to the Committee of Advocates (CoA). The Committee of Advocates pre-dates the Newark Trust by over 15 years. During that time CoA assisted in informing and engaging the community, as well as holding public schools in Newark accountable for student achievement.
Given that several Trust Board members were influential leaders and funders of the Committee of Advocates, it is not surprising that a significant portion of the overall mission of the CoA has been integrated into the mission of the Trust.
The Trust is committed to public engagement that includes all voices in support of quality public education for all Newark's children. We seek to expand our outreach, strengthen our relationships across sectors and communities, and deepen our understanding of issues, concerns, proposed strategies and initiatives, all in an effort to increase the number of Newark children who are prepared for college or a career.
To this end, we are activating the Committee of Advocates as a program of the Trust. The Committee of Advocates will assist in our efforts to expand and strengthen the voices participating in a vibrant community conversation about the future of public education in Newark.
Core Principles
As a broad-based coalition of constituents committed to the core mission of the Newark Trust, The Committee of Advocates will:
1. Foster collaboration and integration of existing programs and services and the development of new services to help close the achievement gap.
2. Create an inclusive infrastructure for communication and collaboration.
3. Generate a more positive community culture based on accountability, trust, greater public understanding of and involvement in public education issues, specifically those related to standards and accountability.
Increase engagement of a broad cross-section of the Newark community in public education, particularly individuals not typically represented.
