Ebony Magazine selected Dr. John Jackson, president and CEO of the Cambridge-based Schott Foundation for Public Education, for their 2017 Ebony Power 100 List. Jackson was honored by one of the oldest African American magazines on December 1 in Los Angeles, California.
Ebony Magazine recognized Jackson as a strategic leader in philanthropy and staunch advocate for our nation’s public school students and systems.
“I am especially grateful that a majority of those who make up the Ebony Power 100 List are proud products of our public school system,” Jackson said. “Ebony is honoring those who exemplify brilliance in their chosen disciplines while at the same time spotlighting the roles public school educators and systems have in producing generations of amazing individuals.”
Throughout his career, Jackson has displayed an unwavering commitment to combating social and racial justice disparities. As president and CEO of the Schott Foundation, he leads the foundation’s efforts to ensure all students, regardless of race and gender, are afforded a fair and substantive opportunity to learn in a student-centered healthy living environment.
“States and cities must continue to recognize that their social, civic and economic strength is directly linked to their ability to create healthy living and learning communities where all students have an opportunity to learn,” Jackson commented. “Where there are past local polices rooted in implicit bias, racism or hate, they much be replaced with policies and practices which are indicative of the type of caring and loving systems which supports the success of all young people from birth.”
With the Schott Foundation’s #PublicSchoolGrad campaign underway and the majority of Ebony Power 100 List recipients being public school graduates, the ceremony highlighted the role of public schools in producing the best and the brightest students. The Ebony Power List 100 Awards Ceremony also reaffirms that public education is the lifeblood of our communities and worth standing up for, according to Jackson.
