Flamboyan Foundation

Flamboyan Foundation opened its doors in Washington, D.C. in 2008 with the mission of improving educational outcomes for children in some of the worst performing schools in the nation. On average, only 14% of 8^th graders in the Washington, D.C. perform on grade level in reading and more than 90% of D.C. Public School students drop out of high school, never enter college, or fail to get a college degree.

We began our work by asking stakeholders what education strategies proven to improve student achievement were not being adequately addressed. These informal conversations led us to commission a local landscape assessment of family engagement and education advocacy practices, which we eventually chose as our areas of focus for the region. As we soon discovered, parents have felt dissatisfied and frustrated with Washington, D.C. schools for decades. There has been a general feeling among families that most D.C. schools do not welcome family involvement, do not treat parents as capable of supporting their child’s learning, and were not open to the opinions of parents who desired to take part in their children’s education.

We believe that in order for children to succeed, families and schools need to work together and share in the responsibility of education. As such, this is the issue that Flamboyan Foundation is trying to address in Washington, D.C.