Sims-Fayola Foundation (SFF) was founded in 2014 by Dedrick Sims, a Denver-area educator, school leader, and educational architect whose life experiences and professional expertise led to SFF's founding. Recognizing the complex challenges facing young men and boys of color around the country, the SFF aims to fill a significant need in many urban areas focusing initially on the Denver metro area, but having now expanded our impact to other regions of the country ( Ohio, Michigan, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, and Georgia). SFF's early stages focused on developing vision and strategy, developing and delivering programming in schools, and developing and providing equity workshops for educators and advocates working with young men and boys of color grounded in the foundation's three pillars: Building Awareness, Building Capacity, and School Design and Support. As we move into the next five years of our strategic plan our primary goal is to continue to develop a comprehensive strategy to change young men and boys of color's life trajectories and address barriers inhibiting their success through direct programming for the young men, but also through increasing our focus on creating intentional spaces for those who work with them to engage in the hard work of equity and ultimately increase their capacity to do their work. The Sims-Fayola Foundation Equity Academy is the first initiative as a result of that intention. As of August 2019, SFF had impacted over 10,000 young men and boys of color, delivered equity workshops to over 1,500 educators, mentors, non-profit leaders, law enforcement and school resource officers, and parents. In the fall of 2017, SFF led the design, development, and implementation of the charter efforts of Southeast Arkansas Preparatory High School (SAPHS). SAPHS is the first STEM high school in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. SFF is currently working with design teams to support new school development in two other states as well. By partnering with schools districts and individual schools, ...
