Elevate 215

School and Talent Investments Elevate 215 makes grants to school operators to support the start-up, expansion, or the capacity building of public, public charter, and catholic schools located in Philadelphia. Grant funding supports the expenses of startup, growth and/or improvement activities over the course of single or multiple years. The Organization screens prospective applications by conducting extensive due diligence on the applicants before approving grants, including examination of school models, quantitative data on academic outcomes, analysis of student attendance, attrition, graduation and matriculation data, financial analysis, review of strategic growth plans, assessment of organizational leadership capacity, interviews with school leaders, and school site visits. The Organization invests in talent development initiatives, which are focused on strengthening the recruitment, retention and skill development of school leaders and teachers. In 2022, Elevate 215 supported 22 organizations. Community Resources The Organization develops and maintains two technology-based resources to support families in learning about and selecting a school that is a good fit for their children. GreatPhillySchools.org is a web-based information resource that helps parents and guardians learn about school options in Philadelphia by sharing information on school services and performance ratings for more than 2,000 pre-kindergarten and K-12 schools; it also features advice and answers to frequently asked questions on various topics including school application processes specific by sector, scholarships, how to apply to high schools, interacting with a student's teacher, and other relevant information. In 2022, over 200,000 families utilized the website. In 2022, Great Philly Schools held an in-person high school fair, an annual event held in October, at which over 100 schools provided information to 9,000 students and families. An additional technology platform, Apply Philly Charter (applyphillycharter.org), is an online standard enrollment system that facilitates the application and acceptance process for a majority of the public charter schools in Philadelphia. In 2022, over 23,000 families utilized Apply Philly Charter to select a school. Policy and Advocacy To ensure that the conditions exist in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania to support the growth and improvement of quality schools, the Organization educates and advocates for evolved education-related policies and makes grants to support such advocacy. The Organization's advocacy is always nonpartisan; it does not support or advocate on behalf of candidates for elected office or education legislation.

The organization develops and maintains the technology platform, Apply Philly Charter (applyphillycharter.org). This is an online standard enrollment system that facilitates the application and acceptance process for a majority of the public charter schools in Philadelphia. In 2022, over 23,000 families utilized Apply Philly Charter to select a school.