The Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation is proud to announce one-time grants to six nonprofit organizations doing vital work to address the root causes of violent crime. This year’s Charitable Grants recipients are the Domestic Violence Network, Eclectic Soul VOICES Corporation, Martin Luther King Center, Phalen Leadership Academies Indiana, Silent No More, Inc. and Thomas Ridley’s 1 Like Me.

Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. In Indiana, high school students can earn one of three diplomas—a Core 40 diploma, a more challenging Honors diploma and a less rigorous general diploma. But under new federal guidelines that are part of the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, Indiana would not be allowed to count the roughly 12% of graduates earning the general diploma toward its official high school graduation count. The new ESSA guidelines have sparked debate and raised an important question about the importance of establishing high standards for high school diplomas. Some support the general diploma because it offers […]