About Us
The Expectations Project mobilizes people of faith to demand excellent public schools for children who are Black, Brown, in poverty and otherwise marginalized. At The Expectations Project, we will continue to support and mobilize activism around policy changes that improve the material conditions of Black, Brown and marginalized students and ensures that every child is safe each time they walk into a school.
Our founder, Nicole Baker Fulgham, grew up with the rich tradition of activism in the AME church. She witnessed first hand how people of faith demanded and ensured better support for her Black, Detroit community. Through her work as a teacher and executive staff member at Teach for America, Nicole saw many opportunities for people of faith to leverage their influence towards systemic change for public education. Ten years ago, she left TFA and launched The Expectations Project - to rally people who believe in Black, Brown, poor and otherwise marginalized students.
We are people who expect a greater, safer, more beautiful and more just world for all students to learn and thrive in. We are advocates who expect more from ourselves and from all adults to provide for children well. We are a community who expects and believes in the brilliance of all of our babies - every last one. We refuse to accept one school system for affluent, white children and another for everyone else.
About Our Logo
Our logo is inspired by the story of Noah and the ark, which people of a variety of faith traditions are familiar with. After Noah and his entourage were at sea and locked down together for about 11 months, Noah decided it was time to try to figure out if the flood waters had receded enough to leave the ark soon. He sent a raven and then a dove out --knowing that if they found land and opportunity, they’d take it and not return to the ark. However, both the raven and the dove came back to the ark. Noah sent out the dove again and this time it came back with an olive leaf! Noah sent the dove out again and it did not come back, because it did find opportunity on land.
At The Expectations Project, we know that our education system is full of students, families, teachers and advocates who are stuck in many ways. There are so many obstacles, so many things that are surrounding us like flood waters. It can be quite overwhelming! The bird in our logo is like the dove of hope and she is bringing us a key to the land of opportunity. The key is advocacy. We can change the systems that don’t fully or at all honor students. At TEP, we are inviting people to join us in reaching for hope and change through each other and through advocacy. We believe we can create the world we want and need.
