America Forward

New Profit's policy initiative advanced policy, led collective advocacy, and built legislative capacity of coalition members

This year, America Forward worked to advance a number of policy proposals and transform them into federal legislation through the collective advocacy of the America Forward Coalitiona national network of more than 100 social innovation organizations that champion public policies that advance equity, foster innovation, and reward results. 

America Forward advocated for key provisions included in the American Rescue Plan (ARP), including a $28.06B set-aside for social-emotional learning and academic learning loss recovery within the $122B Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) aimed at supporting students’ diverse needs and addressing the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on underrepresented student populations. America Forward widely disseminated its transition memo, including breakthrough equity-centered education, national service and workforce recommendations for the Biden-Harris Administration, and met regularly with Administration officials, advocating for these transformational policies and offering guidance from the field. America Forward also played a central role in championing the bipartisan Expanding Pathways to Employment Act, which would set up a $700M fund to scale effective economic mobility, workforce, and postsecondary programs.

While the country continued to battle the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, America Forward partnered with We The Action to assist Coalition members and New Profit portfolio organizations in accessing Paycheck Protection Program funds. The team championed a federal Education Equity and Preparedness Initiative, with recommendations on how the federal government can support public schools to effectively respond to and recover from the pandemic, and saw various components of this initiative incorporated into federal COVID-19 relief and funding legislation. America Forward also led an effort championing the reintroduction of the bipartisan Fund for Innovation and Success in Higher Education (FINISH) Act, which promotes innovative, evidence-based approaches to improve the effectiveness of postsecondary education for all students. The larger “Build Back Better” legislation includes $9B in student retention and completion grant funds, modeled on portions of the FINISH Act. 

In addition to its collective advocacy efforts, America Forward hosted a series of America Forward Advocacy Institute events and virtual trainings throughout the year to build Coalition members’ advocacy capacity. These included coaching on how to: communicate with legislators and the Administration to advance policy priorities; leverage relationships with state and local education agencies to access COVID-19 relief funding; navigate the new Congressional earmark process; gain insight on education issues via voter polling data; advance whole-learner state policies; and influence ESSER funding implementation. America Forward also hosted its annual “Hill Week” (virtual this year) which provided more than 100 hours of training for members, included meetings with 26 congressional offices to advocate for critical funding priorities, and generated more than 50,000 impressions on social media. 

Finally, in the first year of a three-year, $4.8M partnership with the LEGO Foundation, America Forward launched a whole-learner education initiative and advocated for whole-learner approaches to education, including: contributing to the advocacy around the set-aside for social, emotional, and academic learning loss recovery in COVID-19 relief funding; engaging with key policymakers and senior U.S. Department of Education officials to increase awareness and support for federal policy changes that advance high-quality, evidence-based whole-learner approaches; and elevating key tenets of the Whole Learner Roadmap to deepen public understanding of whole-learner approaches to education throughout the country. 

Read highlights from the first year of a three-year partnership with the LEGO Foundation to support whole-learner approaches to education.