Maher Charitable Foundation

"One of our primary goals is to keep the public in public education. Transparency in decision making, access to timely information, and meaningful participation by Newark's citizens are values central to the Trust."

Barbara Reisman has been Executive Director of The Schumann Fund for New Jersey since 1997.

The Schumann Fund makes program and policy grants in New Jersey to expand access to high quality early childhood education, for environmental protection and education in urban New Jersey, and to improve public education.

Since 1997, the Schumann Fund has helped to launch: a coalition of early childhood educators, Head Start grantees, public school principals, teachers and child advocates working for expansion and improvement of early childhood education; the National Institute for Early Education Research; a state-wide public education campaign to build support for public and private investment in high-quality early childhood education; a "Lighthouse" Initiative, which helped develop three exemplary early childhood centers in Newark; and a community and parent organizing effort to improve public schools.

From 1986 to 1997, Ms. Reisman was Executive Director of the Child Care Action Campaign (CCAC), a national organization working to improve early childhood education.  Ms. Reisman is chair of Grantmakers for Education, a member of the steering committee of the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative and a trustee of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform.