Community Catalyst Partners Set to Acquire the International Studies Schools Network
NEW YORK; June 15, 2021 — Tony Jackson, Vice President, Education and Director, Center for Global Education at Asia Society made the following statement regarding the International Studies Schools Network:
I am extremely pleased to share with you that the International Studies Schools Network (ISSN) has a new home! Asia Society has entered into an agreement with Community Catalyst Partners (CCP), a nonprofit formed in 2020, who will acquire the ISSN effective July 1. With deep roots in establishing programs that address equity and ignite sustainable outcomes for all students in communities across the nation, CCP exists to develop the talents of young people from pre-kindergarten through the completion of a postsecondary credential of market value.
Many of you know that the ISSN started back in 2003 to tackle two interrelated problems in American education. First, the persistent failure of education systems to prepare all youth to achieve high standards and be ready for post-secondary education, especially underserved students and students from communities of color. Second, the need to transform education so that all students are well prepared for a globally interconnected, technology-driven world that is vastly different than the world many of us grew up in.
We started a journey to address these two issues with a big idea and not much else – the idea that schools could be helped to transform themselves into highly engaging places of deep learning where every day, students are assimilating knowledge and skills to take on real-world problems and issues that they care about.
The pandemic, the Black Lives Matter uprisings against white supremacy that have spread worldwide, the intensifying cataclysms of climate change and global warming, and the political and social polarization that is threatening opportunities for peace and self-determination have revealed that we are absolutely tied together in interconnected systems. Many of those systems are desperately in need of remodeling by people who think differently about their community and about the planet itself. People who have the knowledge, skills, and mindsets inherent in global competence.
Over a year ago, it became apparent to me that we needed to make a change in order for the ISSN to reach its full potential and scale. We needed a home base that was singularly focused on education as a mechanism for sustained, community-wide youth development and empowerment. And we have found that home in Community Catalyst Partners.
School transformation focused on education for global competence is precisely what the world needs now more than ever. And in our new home at Community Catalyst Partners, the ISSN is positioned better than ever to support schools in providing globally-focused transformative educational experiences for each and every student.
The ISSN is set to officially join Community Catalyst Partners on July 1, 2021, after which core members of its leadership team will join CCP. For more information about the acquisition, please read the press release here.
We look forward to the next chapter ahead for the ISSN!
Find out more about the Asia Society Center for Global Education at AsiaSociety.org/Education.