Dr. Booker named to Harvard University Senior Fellowship

Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM) CEO Dr. Russell Booker has been named to the first cohort of senior fellows for Harvard EdRedesign’s By All Means Initiative.

EdRedesign, a Harvard Graduate School of Education initiative, advances cradle-to-career, community-based, personalized systems of support and opportunity for all children and champions a holistic model of child development and education that goes beyond schools.

Founded in 2016, By All Means advances placed-based, cross-sector partnerships to ensure the social, emotional, physical and academic development of all children and youth. Further, the initiative disrupts the correlation between a child’s socioeconomic status and their prospects for upward mobility. By All Means members adopt comprehensive, cradle-to-career models to advance social and economic mobility, particularly in under-resourced communities.

Dr. Booker joins Alan Cohen, founder and CEO of the Child Poverty Action Lab, Solani Nijhawan, Director of AmeriCorps State and National, Richard Raya, Chief Strategy Officer of Mission Economic Development Agency, and Libby Schaaf, the 50th Mayor of the City of Oakland as the initial cohort of Senior Fellows.

"Through my local and national place-based work, I have come to realize that we can bridge this vast disconnect in our nation and pave a better way for upward mobility across communities,” Dr. Booker said. “EdRedesign has been instrumental in uniting my community with others and serving as a reminder that our nation doesn't have to feel so big. I am honored to join this esteemed group of fellows to advance our cradle-to-career efforts, and I look forward to advancing this field work in the year ahead – by all means.”

The visiting fellowship brings diverse expertise and experiences from exemplary senior leaders across cross-sector partnerships, politics, policymaking, school district leadership, community organizing and public service to tackle challenges facing children, youth and families.

Fellows will spend the year working with EdRedesign on signature projects that aim to amplify the impact of their work and the field of place-based collaborative action on the national stage.

“We are thrilled to welcome our inaugural cohort of By All Means Senior Fellows,” said Rob Watson, Deputy Director of EdRedesign. “Each Fellow is a nationally relevant practitioner pushing our society to reimagine our social contract and advance educational equity, upward mobility, and racial justice for and with children, youth, and families. Together, they embody the type of community-driven leadership that we’re eager to learn from at EdRedesign. We look forward to the transformative contributions they’ll make to our university community.”

Read full story on Harvard’s By All Means Senior Fellowship here.