Why Fordham Street?
Judy Bigelow, founder of the Fordham Street Foundation, grew up on Fordham Street in Pocatello, Idaho, and experienced the economic security, educational enrichment and family support that helped build a successful life. The Foundation seeks to secure a better future for our least advantaged children by making the opportunities recalled on “Fordham Street” a reality for all.

To that end, we provide grants to support programs and organizations that use innovative teaching strategies and experiences to improve learning and provide a foundation of core competencies and critical life skills that will help today’s youth realize their full potential.

Our Vision
The Fordham Street Foundation acts with compassion and creativity to promote excellent educational opportunities for our least advantaged children.

Our Mission
The Fordham Street Foundation supports programs and strategies to improve public education and reduce racial and socio-economic disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes.

Our Approach
To maximize the positive change our funding resources can bring to community life, we have developed these core operating principles:

• Interdependence – we build relationships to provide opportunities for sustained and mutually beneficial learning.
• Engagement – in working with grantees, we use a client-centered approach to provide positive support for funded opportunities.
• Innovation – while we plan carefully, we remain open to as yet unknown, but potentially important, opportunities.
• Leverage – we work collaboratively to make the best use of our monetary and volunteer resources.
• Meaning – We identify and work with grantees to achieve measurable gains in areas of greatest need.

At Fordham Street Foundation, we stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter activists and protesters and with communities of color enduring violence and oppression across our nation. We remain committed to ensuring education justice for all students and eliminating racial disparities in academic opportunities and outcomes.