Eric Schwarz

Cofounder and CEO, Citizen Schools
Movement: After-School Reform

There is an increasingly large disparity between the content of school curriculums and the skill requirements of our society and economy. According to Eric Schwarz, schools are unable to sufficiently fill the achievement gap; thus, learning out of school must become the basis of education reform. In order to better prepare children for the expectations of society, Eric founded Citizen Schools, an organization that provides more than 4,000 middle-school students with the academic support and leadership development they need for success in high school, college, the workplace, and civic life. The organization's approach allows students to work on hands-on learning projects with "citizen teachers," including doctors, lawyers, and photographers. Eric emphasizes the the importance of both providing continual learning venues outside the classroom and demonstrating to young students that the things they learn in school will affect their adult lives. "Math is not just something you need to learn in school," Eric says. "You need it to make a profit, to make architectural drawings work. The result is that the students' writing, presentation, and math skills become relevant and familiar."

Prior to founding Citizen Schools, Eric was the executive director of City Year Boston and a vice president at City Year, a youth service program co-founded by Prime Mover Alan Khazei. Eric's activism in youth outreach began when he worked for the Gary Hart presidential campaign as the national student director, where he recruited thousands of college students to volunteer in support of his candidate. For his work at Citizen Schools, Eric has received the 2002 A&E Networks Biography Community Hero Award, the 2002 Nan B. Kay Great Friends to Kids Award, the 2004 and 2006 Fast Company Social Capitalist Award for outstanding non-profit innovation and results, and the 2005 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. Eric graduated from the University of Vermont and received his master's in education from Harvard University.

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