Message From Our CEO

Brandon Brown, CEO of The Mind Trust

We cannot stop until every student in our city receives the highest quality education that affirms their endless worth and potential.

We ask you to join us.

Dear Friends, 

Throughout 2021, The Mind Trust worked in collaboration with our community to support an equitable recovery and accelerate student learning beyond the confines of COVID-19. Programs like our Indy Summer Learning Labs, our Innovation School Fellowship, the Go Farther Literacy Fund, and more all work to ensure we do more than return to normal. The pre-pandemic normal was never good enough for so many of our city’s students. Families have made it clear: they are demanding an education system that is responsive to their needs and catapults their children to a life full of opportunities. That’s why we are proud to support and collaborate with so many schools and community organizations that are looking to ensure schools are places where all students are valued and afforded the opportunity to reach their full potential. 

To illustrate some of the ways we’ve worked to accelerate student learning, I’d like to share a few highlights from the past year. 

  • Supported the launch of three new schools, bringing our total to 41, which currently serve more than 12,000 students and will serve more than 21,000 students at scale. 
  • Launched Indy Summer Learning Labs, a high-quality summer learning program that served more than 3,000 Marion County students at 39 schools and community learning centers across Indianapolis in summer 2021.
  • Awarded $30,000 to 14 recipients, including eight families and six community organizations, through our Go Farther Literacy Fund to promote student literacy projects.
  • Provided deep instructional and cultural support to 25 public schools in Indianapolis that collectively serve more than 12,000 students.t.
  • Launched a refreshed logo and website to better reflect and share our work with the community. 

I believe our education system is primed for transformational change. Without concerted effort, education in Indianapolis could revert to business as usual and fail to learn from the challenges of the past two years. Or, we could reimagine and implement a system that truly works for all students by responding to the needs families are sharing with us. I know which direction The Mind Trust is committed to and I see more and more folks in our community demanding the same. We cannot stop until every student in our city receives the highest quality education that affirms their endless worth and potential. We ask you to join us. 

With gratitude,

Brandon Brown
CEO

6-Year Strategic Plan

In July 2021, The Mind Trust launched Advancing Educational Equity, a six-year strategic plan aimed at tripling the number of students in Indianapolis’ Center Township who are academically proficient.

Read more about our plan

Timeline

In 2006, Bart Peterson and David Harris founded The Mind Trust to help Indianapolis think bigger about education.

Learn more about our 15-year journey

child paying attention in class