The Challenge: The Eagle Academy Foundation, a nonprofit that provides funding and strategic direction for the Eagle Academy for Young Men schools, wanted to inspire schools across the country to adopt its successful educational model and generate media attention for President and Founder David C. Banks. The Eagle Academy schools are public, all-boys high schools located in the five New York City boroughs and Newark, NJ which have pioneered a self-affirming approach to educating young men of color. The revolutionary education model has produced graduation rates that are nearly double the national average for young men of color.

Our Strategy: TASC worked to generate media coverage for Banks and the schools’ education model at the national and local levels. Our strategy was to position Banks as a national thought leader and major educational reformer whose approach to educating young men of color could be adopted in schools across the country. TASC worked to set up brown bag meetings with national journalists, generate op-eds, prepare remarks, build out Banks and Eagle’s social media platforms and help Eagle create extensive white papers and reports that would elevate their voice in the education reform movement.