EVERFI commit $100m to address social injustice through education
September 18, 2020
Leading social impact education innovator and Sport and STEM Alliance member EVERFI, Inc., announced a $100 million, three-year commitment to build new and expand current courses that address areas that lead to systemic social injustice and economic disparities across the United States.
The three-year initiative supports the company’s founding mission to close education gaps that lead to long-term inequalities. It will focus on outreach to students in the most at-risk, high-poverty areas in the US, offering courses in topic areas that address 12 of the most important critical life skills, to create an ecosystem of change. EVERFI's large catalogue of digital learning content on critical life skills is and will continue to be free to K-12 teachers and students nationwide.
“There is a missing layer in the education system today. The symphony of crises playing out across the world has cast a light on the lack of financial education, health care literacy, insurance literacy, emergency savings and mental wellness instruction in America’s schools,” said Tom Davidson, Founder and CEO of EVERFI. “This moment in time gives us a tremendous opportunity to empower students with this learning using innovation and technology. EVERFI and our partners are stepping in today to fill that gap.”
The Company will add new digital courses around 12 topic areas that pose the highest social risks, to drive meaningful and measurable societal change. Courses within each Social Impact Index (Index) will increase the learner’s knowledge of important subjects related to each topic, including understanding healthcare literacy, insurance literacy, building emergency savings and financial stability, establishing and maintaining credit, college access, understanding student loans, gaining a deeper knowledge of African American history, addressing mental health concerns, preventing prescription drug addiction and many other areas.
Since its founding in 2008, EVERFI digital learning has reached more than 41 million learners across the K-12, higher education, and adult markets with more than 250 digital education courses on social issues. EVERFI recognizes more than 3,100 strategic partners including some of the most recognized brands in the world, like the Anti-Defamation League, Beyond Meat, Citizens, Fifth Third Bank, HSBC, LinkedIn, MassMutual, Mastercard, NFL, NHL, NHL Players’ Association, RISE, Truist, Truth Initiative, UBS, United Way Worldwide and Zelle, among many others, that have joined them in fulfilling its mission of influencing social change through the power of education.
“Providing equal access to resources that go beyond the core curricula and allow children to develop critical socioeconomic life skills is essential as we strive for inclusivity and opportunity for all. We’re thrilled to support this initiative and believe it will create meaningful societal change,” said Rob Knesaurek, Group Vice President, Youth Development and Industry Growth, NHL.
To support the nation’s school systems, teachers, and families during this unprecedented time, EVERFI will continue its work reaching children in their home or hybrid learning environment with the goal of delivering more than 24 million total hours of critical life- skill learning to K-12 students over the next three years. Educational interventions for youth have shown substantive effects on social-emotional development, school progress, antisocial behaviour, poverty, and crime.
Learn more about the Sport and STEM Alliance here.