Dear John,

So much has changed about education in America since we first launched 50CAN 13 years ago. What has remained constant are two things: our belief that a better education system for all kids is possible and our commitment to helping local advocates across the country reach this goal.

It is with that spirit of optimism–that a better future is possible through the power of bottom-up change–that today we are charting a path to the next great chapter in our journey with a new strategic plan and a new website, built from the ground up around the needs of this unique moment in American history.

For the journey ahead, we are organizing our efforts around a common policy vision and doubling down on the local leadership model that has proven so successful to date. We aim to both significantly grow the number of campaigns in the 50CAN network and also grow the number of organizations, leaders and partners in an ever-expanding community of education advocates and innovators. 

From its founding, 50CAN has prided itself on working in clear and measurable ways that add up to results for kids. To carry our work forward into this new era, we will organize our day-to-day efforts into four work streams of activity, which we call Advocate, Spark, Build and Serve. Each of these is designed to contribute to advancing our Believe in Better policy vision through our state campaigns and in partnership with organizations across the country, backed by straightforward outcomes we will report on each year. 

We hope you will take a moment today to explore our new website, read our new strategic plan and reach out with any thoughts you have on how we can partner together. Working together, we believe the next three years can fulfill the hopes and dreams of millions of families for the education system their children deserve.

We look forward to walking with you on the road ahead.