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| Business Observer

RCMA Recognized in Business Observer as $1 million Prize Candidate

  • October 20, 2022

A Collier County-based nonprofit provider of early childhood education and a charter school operator, RCMA, has made it to the semi-final round of a national competition with a $1 million prize.

Immokalee-based RCMA is one of 32 semifinalists in the 2022 competition for the $1 million Yass Prize for Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding and Permissionless Education (STOP).The announcement was made Oct. 13 at Forbes on Fifth in New York City, where Steve Forbes welcomed the quarterfinalists and RCMA Director of Charter Schools Juana Brown was in the audience, according to a statement.

As a semifinalist, RCMA, which stands for Redlands Christian Migrant Association, has already earned a $200,000 donation and is participating in an accelerator program to engage with experts, investors and mentors. RCMA will be part of an in-person accelerator program and pitch competition to be held in Miami Nov. 28 through Dec. 1, the release adds. Six finalists earning $250,000 each and one $1 million grand prize winner will be announced Dec. 14.

Funds from the Yass Prize will help RCMA with charter school expansion expenses, officials say. RCMA had $80.5 million in revenue in its most recent fiscal year, according to public tax filings.

“It is important for us to provide a continuum of education with our dual language, bicultural curriculum from our child development centers through our charter schools,” said RCMA Executive Director Isabel Garcia. “For more than 57 years, we have served the migrant farm worker and immigrant communities of Florida. We understand their specific family needs that go beyond education into health and social services that provide a strong foundation for children being prepared to learn, grow and follow their dreams.”

RCMA, according to its website, was founded in 1965 “by people concerned about children spending all day in South Florida’s vegetable fields with their migrant-working parents.” Today RCMA annually serves 5,500 children and their families in 21 primarily rural Florida counties through 65 child development centers and two K-8 charter schools. RCMA operates Immokalee Community Academy and Wimauma Community Academy, both K-8 schools rated “B” by the Florida Department of Education, the release states. RCMA plans to open Mulberry Community Academy for the 2023-2024 school year and then add another charter school in Immokalee followed by one in Homestead.

Janine and Jeff Yass are the visionaries behind the initiative initially created to find and advance the work of education providers that continued to serve children despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic. The effort is powered by the Center for Education Reform (CER) in Washington, D.C., with Forbes as a media partner.

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The Yass Foundation advances the four core STOP principles: Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless education. Each year, the Foundation will reward dozens of organizations, building a growing network of innovative providers that
demonstrate these qualities in their commitment to new ideas, technologies, and approaches to learning that bring education into
the 21st century. The Foundation is powered by the Center for Education Reform (CER) in partnership with Forbes.

What has been created here at the accelerator is truly incredible.

We may never know how pivotal this really is for education in America right here, right now. This group of people will work together to force real change permissionlessly.

Rob Blevins
Executive Director,
Discovery Center of Springfield

You are in a moment in history that we have never seen before.

Any of us with a disruptive idea have a shot at trying to prove something.

Randall Lane
Chief Content Officer,
Forbes Media

What is good for families is good for the school because families want great schools.

Ceci Schickel
Senior Director of Organizing and Advocacy,
Mastery Charter School

I'm deeply humbled and grateful to be part of this group.

The last month has been a tremendous experience and I'm so inspired and motivated by the amazing work this group is doing. Collectively, we’re working towards a real-world goal and it’s leaving me empowered and motivated to apply what we learn.

Jeffrey Imrich
Co-Founder,
Rock by Rock

We see the Pulitzer prizes, we see the MacArthur Genius Grants, we see the Pritzker prize for architecture.

But for the one field that drives everything, education, there is no definitive prize. The Yass Prize has filled that vacuum -- it's more than just the money. It's about spurring ideas, it's about spurring innovation. We are very very proud to be a part of it.

Randall Lane
Editor,
Forbes

I am still processing the magnitude of this experience and so grateful for meeting each and everyone of you.

I look forward to continuing our transformative work in our communities and together.

Taylor Shead
Board Member,
Dallas Education Foundation

Entrepreneurs are people who teach us about needs we don’t know we need.

This is the fundamental basis of what we are doing.

Carl Schramm
University Professor,
Syracuse University

Unfortunately, the bureaucracy that’s behind the school system is more interested in perpetuating jobs and keeping the system in place, rather than giving children the freedom they deserve.

Janine Yass
Founder,
The Yass Prize

The fact that education has become partisan is upsetting, and I just hope that this award will encourage more states to view this as a bipartisan issue.

Janine Yass
Founder,
The Yass Prize

Remember, you are doing the work of civilization.

You are planting the seeds of a better world, despite any bad news, you’re doing great things.

Steve Forbes
Editor-in-Chief,
Forbes Media

We often jump to the what, without thinking with the community about the why.

Michael B. Horn
Author,
From Reopen to Reinvent

The real source of wealth in society is the human mind, not material things, because with the human mind, great wealth can be created.

Steve Forbes
Editor-in-Chief,
Forbes Media

Success happens after many pivots and changes.

Michael Moe
Founder and CEO,
Global Silicon Valley

I hope you all think about the fact that the impact you are having, you will never even know how widespread it is.

That’s the beauty of education, you impact lives in such a deep way.

Alyssa Farah Griffin
Co-Host on The View and CNN Political Commentator,

If you get to the accelerator after the application process, go in knowing you already won.

The fact that you are now with a group of your peers you really get to see how world class the education profession is.

Christopher Simmonds
Principal,
CARE Elementary School

The pandemic didn’t stop our families, scholars and educators from learning, growing and thriving.

Patricia Brantley
CEO,
Friendship Public Charter School

When you are trying to advance and think beyond the status quo, this can be a lonely place, because our systems are structured to do the same thing.

It is important to surround yourself with like-minded individuals who foster innovation.

Phyllis Lockett
CEO,
LEAP Innovations

We realized long ago that there’s a lot of money in the system, and it’s just not directed to the children.

Janine Yass
Founder,
The Yass Prize

We may not agree on much of anything, but one thing that is a uniting force that we all agree on is that education opens doors, it’s the great equalizer.

Alyssa Farah Griffin
Co-Host on The View and CNN Political Commentator,

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