Where We Invest

In 2022, AGS piloted a partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), a national nonprofit that partners with over 40 HBCUs around the country. As a result of the partnership, multiple HBCU alumni were hired to schools in Cincinnati. AGS leveraged this momentum to host additional students from across the country to visit Cincinnati in spring 2023. Their days were filled with school visits, tours of Cincinnati landmarks and housing, and learning from successful black business sector leaders as to why they chose – and continue to choose – Cincinnati for their home. Visitors came from 7 different HBCUs, and after the event, 91% were interested in a role in education in Cincinnati and 100% would recommend the Cincinnati school visits to a friend at their HBCU.  

IDEA Public Schools is a network of high-performing public schools with two locations in Cincinnati, IDEA Price Hill and IDEA Valley View in Woodlawn. IDEA is a goal-oriented, data-driven family of schools open to all students in Cincinnati, grades K-12. It has decades of success in preparing students—many of whom will be the first in their family to attend college—to go to college and earn their degree. 100% of IDEA’s seniors have been accepted to college for 15 straight years. IDEA has a strong governing board of local leaders from organizations such as BLOC Ministries, the YMCA and Q-Kidz. It makes a promise to every child and every family that attends—they will not only be accepted into college, but they will be prepared and successful. 

Seton Romero Academies partner with families to develop the intellect, form the character and engage the faith of children so they can thrive in selective college preparatory high schools, college and beyond. Romero Academy at Resurrection opened in 2020 in Price Hill. Parents recruited Romero to open a second school in Clifton, Romero Academy at Annunciation — which opened in fall 2023. Romero students are experiencing higher rates of growth in reading and math than their national peers and are out-performing neighborhood schools.

Great schools require great principals.  Accelerate Great Schools has partnered across the city to deepen diverse principal pipelines in Cincinnati. Initiatives, which have included partnerships with Cincinnati Public Schools, the Catholic Inner-City Education (CISE) Fund, and non-profit charter schools, have helped schools anticipate and plan for principal hiring needs, recruited diverse principals to high-need schools, and established training and support for principals and their leadership teams.

In partnership with Cincinnati Public Schools, Accelerate Great Schools is supporting the Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship. The Leading Men Fellowship recruits and supports young men of color to serve as literacy tutors to ensure kindergarten readiness among at-risk preschoolers. After working with students as tutors, many fellows continue on a path to becoming full-time teachers.  

ReGeneration offers equal access to a high-quality, college-preparatory education for all students, characterized by a culture that is orderly, supportive, and focused on academic work.  Founded more than a decade ago by Cincinnati native and nationally recognized African American leader, Stacey Shells, ReGeneration Schools is one of the only networks in the US focusing on school turnaround.  The Network recently expanded to Cincinnati with three schools: ReGeneration Bond Hill, K-4.   ReGeneration Avondale, K-4 and ReGeneration Middle School.  

Accelerate Great Schools provided support for the continued operation of the Student Success Center at Walnut Hills High School. The Student Success Center (SSC) is a space dedicated to 7^th and 8^th grade students at risk of failing one or more courses and not being able to return to school.  Educators in the SSC provide academic support, tutoring, study intervention, social and emotional support to students.