brightbeam. He was named CEO in April 2019, after formerly serving as chief executive of Wayfinder Foundation. He is a lifelong activist and 20-year supporter of nonprofit and education-related causes. In the past, Stewart has served as the director of outreach and external affairs for Education Post, the executive director of the African American Leadership Forum (AALF), and an elected member of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education where he was radicalized by witnessing the many systemic inequities that hold our children back. In 2007 Chris was elected to the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education. In that role, he helped establish the Office of New Schools, an area of the Minneapolis Public Schools to implement school reform strategies. At the same time he created the Equity and Achievement Committee, authored a board-level “Covenant with the African American Community,” and advocated safe, orderly, and rigorous schools that prepare students for the real world. In 2011, Chris organized community members for two campaigns in Minnesota: Action For Equity, a grassroots effort to spur innovation in family and education policy at the state level, and the Contract for Student Achievement, a coalition of community organizations working to achieve greater flexibility for underperforming schools through changes to Minneapolis’ teachers’ contract. Since 2009 Chris has been president and principal with Yielding Assets, LLC, a grassroots consultancy helping government, nonprofit, and foundation clients create self-sustaining, social good projects. Chris serves as chair of the board of SFER’s Action Network and also serves on the board of Ed Navigators. Chris blogs and tweets under the name
Citizen Stewart. He is based in the Minneapolis area. In August 2017, Chris came together with more than 40 other African-American parents, students and teachers to talk about the Black experience in America’s public schools. These conversations were released as a video series in
Getting Real About Education: A Conversation With Black Parents, Teachers and Students.">
It’s happened to the best of us. Our kid asks for help with homework, we swoop in like a hero, happy to be called into action. Then we look down at the work, only to see the most fearsome of villains:
We are building a movement of 10 million Americans demanding educational opportunity and justice for every child. Every action matters, no matter how small. Use this moment to take an action on behalf of children.
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Our Voices
We bring light to the issues that matter most for our schools and kids. We break down the policies, practices and jargon to give you the useful, actionable information you need to advocate on behalf of children.
In our eight years, more than 2,000 voices have contributed to Ed Post, and more than 10 million people have read and shared their stories.
But it’s not enough.
Now we are taking these powerful stories and essential voices and building a movement of 10 million Americans who are ready to do more.
These are the parents who believe every family should have access to a great education regardless of zip code. These are the teachers who see the brilliance of every child and know that with the right support they can help them achieve their dreams. These are the students whose light is bright—if only we let it shine.
This movement includes those policymakers and elected leaders whose North Star is always the welfare of our youth. And it includes all of the voters and community members who believe the value of our communities should be assessed by the question, “How are the children?”
