Dear Ed Fund Community,
This summer, after three years of building friendships and equitable education opportunities for SFUSD students, I will be moving on from my role as CEO of the San Francisco Education Fund. Before I share details on my plans, I want you to know how proud I am of the Ed Fund’s impact over the past few years and how confident I am in the organization’s future.
The San Francisco Education Fund is on an amazing trajectory. I couldn’t be prouder of the work of my team, our board, and this community and the impact we have had, bringing $6M worth of resources to 90+ SFUSD schools, 300+ teachers, and 15,000+ students just in the last year. In my remaining two months, I will continue to ensure the Ed Fund lives into its charter as an accelerator for critically important work on behalf of SFUSD students. Simultaneously, the Board and I are working diligently to find the next amazing individual to lead this incredible organization.
It has truly been an incredible experience being the CEO at the Ed Fund and I have boundless love for the organization and team, our board and leadership council, our partners and community, and the amazing schools, teachers, and students we support.
As you may know, I joined the Ed Fund shortly after having my baby. The organization itself quickly became my second baby and our community my second family. I learned to be a mother and a CEO of an organization that supports thousands of students at the same time, and that experience has fully transformed me as a human and as a leader. I learned that San Francisco has an amazing community of people who care, of people who reached out during the pandemic to ask “how can I help?” even when struggling with their own fears and challenges of living through deep uncertainty. Just as my own neighbors and friends supported us tremendously as new parents, I saw the Ed Fund community show up in the same manner for SF youth. As schools reopened first virtually, then in person, our community continued to be there – showing up on Zoom, then masked and vaccinated, to make teacher lives a little bit easier and provide difference-making support to classrooms of students across the city. Our community raised COVID relief funds for families and then extra funds to support college-going students navigating pandemic uncertainty. San Francisco is a truly collaborative city of people in organizations, nonprofit and for profit, who are willing to do the hard work together for our children.
Needless to say, transitioning away from the Ed Fund was an incredibly difficult decision for me and one that had nothing to do with the Ed Fund’s critical work and continued impact on the lives of San Francisco’s public school community. Instead, I have been given the opportunity to lead another inspiring organization that is doing work uniquely aligned to my core identity and purpose. As I have shared regularly over the past few years, the increase in hate toward the Asian American community has weighed heavy on my heart. I am being pulled towards combatting this destructive trend so that we create a safer future for all children, one where we, and they, can authentically and proudly celebrate who they are as their full and beautiful selves, and as our future leaders of America.
I will be leaving the Ed Fund deeply inspired by and grateful to each one of you, and leaving as an Ed Fund advocate for life who is excited to see what comes next for this wonderful organization.
In Community,
Stacey Wang
CEO
