Awardees
Awardees
The 2023 Yass Prize Winner!
Valiant Cross Academy
Congratulations to Valiant Cross Academy, the 2023 Yass Prize $1 Million Winner! Located in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, Valiant Cross Academy sits just across from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s church – a symbolic inspiration driving the school’s commitment to fostering success for its all-Black male students through faith and academic rigor.
The 2023 Finalists
2023 Yass Prize Semifinalists
Meet the 33 Semifinalists selected for the 2023 Yass Prize
Other State Initiatives
Responding in real time to policy opportunities as well as challenges.
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Odyssey Leadership Academy
Oklahoma City, OK
Old Sturbridge Academy
Sturbridge, MA
One City Schools
Madison, WI
OnYourMark
National
Open Sky Education
National
Optima Academy Online
Naples, FL & National
Partnership Schools
New York, NY
Positive Tomorrows, Inc.
Oklahoma City, OK
Prenda
National
Prichard Preparatory School
Whistler, AL
Purdue Polytechnic High Schools
Indianapolis, IN
Randolph Eastern School Corporation
Union City, IN
Rapunzl
Chicago, IL
RCMA Immokalee Community Academy
Immokalee, FL
RISE Hybrid Academy
Fredericksburg, VA
Rock by Rock
National
SailFuture
St. Petersburg, FL
Savannah Legacy Academy
Savannah, GA
School of Hope
Fayetteville, NC
SOAR Academy
Evans, GA
Sora Schools, Inc.
National
Special Care
Oklahoma City, OK
St. Francis de Sales School
Philadelphia, PA
St. George Municipal School Unit
Tenants Harbor, ME
St. Philip the Apostle Catholic School
Camp Springs, MD
Thales Academy
National
The Discovery Center of Springfield
Springfield, MO
The High School for Recording Arts
St. Paul, MN
The Innovation School
Bismarck, ND
The Lab School of Memphis
Memphis, TN
The League of Young Inventors
Brooklyn, NY
The Melanin Village
National
The Oakland REACH
Oakland, CA
The Oaks Academy
Indianapolis, IN
Trivium Charter School Network
Lompoc, California
Tutwiler Community Education Center
Tutwiler, MS
unCommon Construction
New Orleans, LA
Urban Preparatory Academy
Wichita, KS
UrbaNeXt
Cincinnati, OH
Valiant Cross Academy
Montgomery, AL
Verdi EcoSchool
Melbourne, FL
Vertex Partnership Academies
Bronx, NY
VictoryXR
National
West Virginia Academy
Morgantown, WV
Wildflower Schools
Minneapolis, MN & National
Workshop Middle School
Brooklyn, NY
Young Women’s Preparatory Network
Dallas, TX
Zeta Charter Schools
Bronx, NY
End of Awardees
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Having the status of Yass Prize Semifinalist has opened doors that we’ve been knocking on for years,
including public recognition from our Governor and partnership conversations with other education innovators from around the country.
Yass brought us together, creating opportunities to create an educational universe within which we can look at education differently…
we have to find academic experiences that represent neuro-divergent learners, kids who want to learn about gaming, who want to do stuff online, who dropped out of school.
Being a part of this experience has amplified the access we can give to our students in a way that nothing has, and the access is just critical.
The Yass Prize is almost like Burning Man for education reform.
In a state where alternative education is often overlooked, the Yass community helps us shine.
The Yass Prize has empowered our youth, families and community by bringing great visibility to our efforts.
The Yass Prize is truly changing the landscape of education options across the nation,
and I couldn't be more grateful for what it's done for us, and helping us serve more students and families.
The Yass Prize has brought together such diverse leaders
from all different demographics, all different states, all different service provider types that you can learn from.
I’m dreaming bigger, bolder, and more bodacious [because of the Yass Prize].
It has helped me raise the ceiling on what’s possible.
There is absolutely zero downside to being a part of this network by submitting your application and what you will encounter is unlike any other grant.
It's actually mind blowing. I really see myself as an education entrepreneur, but this expanded me.
Education is one of the most fundamental pillars for democratizing opportunities for success that we have in our society.
It’s thanks to organizations like the Yass Prize that our children are going to have a better tomorrow.
Our newest endeavor – that was part of our Yass Prize initiative – we're bringing career and technical education into the school
I'm in the process of going through the construction of a 20,000 square foot $11.5 million dollar building dedicated to career and technical education for the students in the Philadelphia region.
One of the missions of the Yass Prize and the Yass Prize movement is really surfacing best practices in innovation—
in innovators who are doing this type of transformational work, so that others can learn from it and replicate it, so that you can actually grow yourselves.
Being a part of the [Yass] family confirmed that what I'm doing is right,
going against the common core and focusing on what we know is important for kids really works, and having a network of people now that also agree was super huge.