The Mind Trust’s Education Entrepreneur Fellowship

For Immediate Release
September 10, 2007

Contact:
David Harris, 317-822-8102 x100

The Mind Trust launches Education Entrepreneur Fellowship; makes $900,000 initial investment in program. Fellowship is a nationally unique opportunity for entrepreneurs with great ideas to transform public education

INDIANAPOLIS – The Mind Trust, a new education nonprofit focused on promoting education entrepreneurship in Indianapolis, is now accepting applications for its flagship program, the Education Entrepreneur Fellowship. The Fellowship will provide the nation’s most promising education entrepreneurs with the support they need to develop and launch initiatives that focus on wholly new ways of confronting public education’s most vexing problems. Fellows will target underserved or disadvantaged students with solutions that attack the root problems in the delivery of public education.

“The Fellowship is designed for leaders who envision entirely new approaches in public education.” said David Harris, President and CEO of The Mind Trust. “We are looking for the most capable entrepreneurs from around the country with the most innovative ideas to transform public education.”

Each Fellowship will last two years, with the first fellows beginning their work in spring or summer of 2008. Fellows’ annual salaries will be $90,000. Each fellow will also receive $20,000 for customized training and travel over the term of their Fellowship. The Mind Trust’s initial investment in the Education Entrepreneur Fellowship is approximately $900,000.

Fellows will be based at The Mind Trust in Indianapolis. While Indianapolis will be a focus of fellows’ work, it is expected that some fellows will launch statewide or national initiatives.

“This concentration of high quality entrepreneurial talent devoted to improving public education will be enormously beneficial to Indianapolis,” Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson said. “Not only will The Mind Trust’s Fellowship make Indianapolis a national hub for effective education reform efforts, but the ventures launched will help the students in our city who need it most.” Mayor Peterson is the chair of The Mind Trust’s board of directors.

Fellowship application materials and additional information, including commentary about the Fellowship by national experts, are available on The Mind Trust’s website at www.themindtrust.org. The deadline for the first stage of the application process is January 15, 2008.

The Mind Trust has already helped launch in Indianapolis Public Schools two of the nation’s most successful education initiatives – The New Teacher Project and College Summit.

The Mind Trust’s mission is to attract, support, and empower the nation's most effective and promising education entrepreneurs to transform public education outcomes for children in Indianapolis and beyond.