
Education
Tackling the achievement gap in New Orleans
Our Impact
Since 2011, Propeller has incubated and accelerated 263 ventures through the Impact Accelerator and Social Venture Fund. Collectively, they have generated over $292 million in external financing and revenue and created 485+ full- and part-time jobs. Our businesses and nonprofits overall have an 84 percent survival rate, compared to the national average of 56 percent.
As a result of our work with ventures in the education focus area, Propeller has influenced the following outcomes:
- An increase of $25mm (2015) to $43mm (2019) in Medicaid dollars flowing to schools to pay for social workers and school psychologists
- Shifting the healthy school food RFP criteria and serving healthy school meals to 22,000+ public school children annually
- 15 charter school boards engaging in policy changes to further racial equity and inclusion at the board level
- 300+ schools streamlined professional support for teachers through a K-12 classroom observation and coaching platform
- 8,047 individuals and students using a career technical education matching portal resulting in 867 connections
Education Focus Area
Propeller works to narrow New Orleans’ achievement gap by addressing the factors that emerge to impact success throughout a young person’s educational career. Starting in early childcare, Propeller small businesses and nonprofits are supporting parents and caretakers and helping education providers streamline their administration and maximize funding. From K-12, entrepreneurs are working at the systems level to ensure student success, from improving student health with vision and hearing screenings, increasing Medicaid funding for behavioral health, and increasing the quality of healthy school lunches to partnering with RTA to ensure students have easy affordable transportation between school, home, and after-school enrichment programs. Propeller ventures also work with young adults who have left or completed high school to create pathways to postsecondary education and fulfilling careers.
Propeller’s Education Accelerator focuses on supporting entrepreneurs bringing equitable, culturally relevant practices and policies to local education systems and skill development opportunities. Propeller prioritizes solutions that specifically address the following issues in the education focus area:
- Access to quality early childhood education
- Development of equitable, culturally relevant practices, policies, and approaches in education systems across New Orleans
- Expanded pathways to vocational education and job skill development for New Orleanians
To date, Propeller has accelerated 55+ education-focused ventures by providing access to contacts, contracts, community, capital, mentors, and subject matter experts (financial modeling, graphic design, customer pipeline, marketing, fundraising, etc.). This support has resulted in notable success for these entrepreneurs. Below are some of our notable Alumni.
Propeller Ventures working in this Sector

Small Royalty
Dionne Phillips
Areas of focus: Education

Monarch Learning Academy
Kynisha Jackson
Areas of focus: Education

Kingdom Culture
Kisha Brown
Areas of focus: Education

Kid’s Kingdom Academy
Lynnette Rivers
Areas of focus: Education

Community Connection Programs
Jewel Chavis
Areas of focus: Education

Little Steps Learning Center
Lakisha Mcleod & Aronisha Mickell
Areas of focus: Education

ALAS
Lisa María Rhodes & Yasmin Falcon Morales
Areas of focus: Education

Be Loud Studios
Alex Owens, Diana Turner
Areas of focus: Education

Ngombo Cafe and Sanctuary
jackie sumell, Jerome Morgan, Christin Wagner, Robert Jones
Areas of focus: Education

Reunion Shoe Company
Dan Fowler
Areas of focus: Education

Turning Tables
Toure Folkes
Areas of focus: Education

WhereWeGo
Leah Lykins and Ben Ifshin
Areas of focus: Education

Electric Girls
Jillian Sandoval
Areas of focus: Education

Cipher 360
Kristyna Jones and Larry Irvin
Areas of focus: Education

STEM Library Lab
Todd Wackerman, Sarah Sievert
Areas of focus: Education

Navigate NOLA
Dr. Danielle K. Wright
Areas of focus: Education

Legacy Leadership Academy for Girls
Ronicka Briscoe
Areas of focus: Education

Early Partners
Kim Frusciante
Areas of focus: Education

Excellent Readers
Dwann Wagner
Areas of focus: Education

ALAS
Lisa Maria Rhodes
Areas of focus: Education

Beautify
Kiyann Clanton, Maya Sewell
Areas of focus: Education

WhereWeGo
Ben Ifshin, Leah Lykins
Areas of focus: Education

KNOW Card Games
Freddi W. Evans
Areas of focus: Education

The New Orleans Council for Community & Justice
Jordan Bridges
Areas of focus: Education

Irene Morgan Schools
Adrienne Wallace, Melanie Dukes, Malaika Hankins, Ella Every-Wortman
Areas of focus: Education

Start the Adventure in Reading
Veronica Reed & Amanda Chittenden
Areas of focus: Education

KID smART
Elise Gallinot Goldman
Areas of focus: Education

Crescent City Corps
Brent Godfrey
Areas of focus: Education

Goshin-Kai Academy
Andre Maximum
Areas of focus: Education

Erosync
Alfred Matthews III, Jared Bluford
Areas of focus: Education

The Juror Project
William Snowden
Areas of focus: Education

STEM Library Lab
Todd Wackerman, Sarah Sievert
Areas of focus: Education

Wilcox Academy of Early Learning
Rochelle Wilcox
Areas of focus: Education

STEM NOLA
Dr. Calvin Mackie
Areas of focus: Education

Kids of Excellence Child Development Center
Kristi Givens & Precious Acker
Areas of focus: Education

Dancing Grounds
Laura Stein & Jeremy Guyton
Areas of focus: Education

College Beyond
Paris Woods & Sarah Payne
Areas of focus: Education

Whole Village Art Therapy
Holly Wherry
Areas of focus: Education

TrainingGrounds
Christine Neely & Melanie Richardson
Areas of focus: Education

826 New Orleans
Douglas Keller & Aubrey Edwards
Areas of focus: Education

College Beyond
Paris Woods & Sarah Payne
Areas of focus: Education

Kids of Excellence Child Development Center
Kristi Givens & Precious Acker
Areas of focus: Education

The Southern History Project
Sheila Sundar
Areas of focus: Education

Electric Girls
Flor Serna & Maya Ramos
Areas of focus: Education

Youth Rebuilding New Orleans
William Stoudt
Areas of focus: Education

XS Martial Arts Dojo & Save One Now Acquisition
Jason B. Horne & Monica F. Horne
Areas of focus: Education

Whetstone Education
Libby Fischer
Areas of focus: Education

TrueSchool
Maggie Riddell & Gabrielle Alicino
Areas of focus: Education

Royal Castle Child Development Center
Pearlie Harris & Tim Harris
Areas of focus: Education

Operation Spark
John Fraboni & Max Gaudin
Areas of focus: Education

YEP Design Works
Alberta Wright
Areas of focus: Education

unCommon Construction
Aaron Frumin
Areas of focus: Education

RisingFoundations
Kelly Orians & Calvin Duncan
Areas of focus: Education

Upturn Arts
Dana Reed
Areas of focus: Education

The Beautiful Foundation, Incorporated
Lauren Perry
Areas of focus: Education

Adinkra NOLA
Elizabeth Fletcher
Areas of focus: Education

Coordinated Care for the Whole Child
Connie Bellone
Areas of focus: Education, Health

Brothers Empowered 2 Teach
Kristyna Jones and Larry Irvin
Areas of focus: Education

Million Dollar Scholar
Ras Asan and Derrius Quarles
Areas of focus: Education

Live Oak Wilderness Camp
Jack Carey, Bene Webster, Caleb Dufresne, Iris Howorth, Jeremy Guyton, Lucy Scholz, Oskie Creech, and Team
Areas of focus: Education

Center for Restorative Approaches
Troi Bechet
Areas of focus: Education

The Cookbook Project
Adam Aronovitz and Alissa Bilfield
Areas of focus: Food, Education

TrueSchool
Amy Vreeland
Areas of focus: Education

Broadmoor Arts & Wellness Center
Emily Wolff
Areas of focus: Health, Education

New Orleans Master Crafts Guild
Jonn Hankins
Areas of focus: Economic & Workforce Development, Education

Good Citizen
Nolan Marshall, Jr. & Nolan Marshall III
Areas of focus: Education
