About Us
Who We Are
Education is Freedom (EIF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2002 by a visionary board of corporate leaders, government officials, and entrepreneurs who believed that every young person deserved access to a college education and the economic opportunity it makes possible.
What began as a scholarship program quickly revealed a deeper truth: financial support alone is not enough to ensure college success, especially for students facing significant social or economic barriers. In 2003, EIF launched a comprehensive, school-based college advising program in the Dallas Independent School District. That decision set the course for everything that followed.
OUR FOUNDING STORY
A Bold Vision, Two Decades in the Making
EIF was born out of a conviction shared by Dallas business and civic leaders: that an educated workforce is the foundation of thriving communities and a strong economy. In 2002, founder Jim Keyes and a dynamic board launched EIF with a landmark event at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with global humanitarian Nelson Mandela contributing remarks, setting an early and unmistakable tone for the organization’s ambition and its belief in the transformative power of education.
“The idea of democracy is to create a free society that gives all people equal opportunity. However, there can be no equal opportunity, no freedom, without education.”
– Nelson Mandela, in a video address recognizing the launch of the Education is Freedom Foundation, 2002
Since then, EIF has grown from a single scholarship program providing full tuition to selected students into a comprehensive college and career advising organization serving students across Dallas County. Over more than two decades, we have reached over 600,000 students and families, and the students we have served have earned nearly $1 billion in institutional and private scholarships. Our alumni are building careers and raising families across the country, and in many cases, becoming the first in their families to earn a college degree or postsecondary credential.
In 2024, EIF expanded its reach into middle school with the acquisition of the Education Opens Doors (EOD) college and career exploration curriculum, a proven, highly regarded program now in use across Dallas ISD and Garland ISD middle schools. This addition ensures that conversations about future pathways begin long before high school, giving students more time, more information, and more confidence to make intentional choices about their education and careers.
As we approach our 25th anniversary in 2027, we are more committed than ever to our founding vision: a world where every young person has the resources, knowledge, and support to access a pathway to postsecondary success and economic mobility.
MISSION, VISION & CORE COMPETENCIES
What Drives Us
MISSION
Education is Freedom transforms lives through education.
VISION
We envision a world where every young person achieves their academic and professional goals and thrives in a career that pays a family-sustaining wage.
Core Competencies
EIF’s leadership and staff integrate seven core competencies into every aspect of our work. We hire for them, coach to them, and cultivate them throughout our organization:
- Strategic Vision: We design and execute bold, future-forward strategies.
- Execution Excellence: We are detail-oriented and outcomes-driven, with a bias for action.
- Solutions Focus: We maintain a mindset of identifying and removing obstacles to success and foster that attitude in others.
- Collaborative Spirit: We thrive in a team-based environment and build strong partnerships.
- Mission-Driven: We are passionate about creating living-wage career pathways for the students we serve.
- Optimistic Outlook: We believe economic mobility is attainable by all and that EIF has the talent and capacity to bring that belief to life.
- Joyful Leadership: We exhibit and cultivate joy in the workplace, in schools, and in the communities we serve, inspiring optimism and engagement among stakeholders.
WHY DALLAS COUNTY NEEDS EIF
The Challenge We’re Solving
Today, just 17% of Dallas County’s beginning 8th graders earn a postsecondary credential by age 24. That number drops to 12% among the 71% of Dallas County public school students who are economically disadvantaged. This crisis of attainment is not just an educational challenge; it is an economic and social one. Because educational attainment is tightly linked to earnings, low completion rates perpetuate poverty and limit social mobility across generations.
OUR RESPONSE
EIF is meeting this challenge at scale. Our advisors are on campus full-time alongside more than 60% of all high school seniors in Dallas County, ensuring the majority of students in the region have access to individualized college and career advising. Our career exploration curriculum reaches middle school students across Dallas ISD and Garland ISD, and our Community Connections program reaches hundreds of additional students and families each month through community-based partnerships.
A SHARED VISION FOR THE FUTURE
Our work is a cornerstone of Opportunity 2040, Dallas’s community-wide effort led by the Commit Partnership and the Child Poverty Action Lab to enable 150,000 more students to access economic mobility pathways and cut child poverty in half by 2040. We all succeed when more Dallas County students can access, persist, and complete postsecondary pathways, breaking cycles of poverty and securing generational prosperity.
HOW EIF IS FUNDED
How We Get Our Resources
EIF is funded through a combination of school district contracts, private foundation grants, corporate investments, and individual donations. This diversified funding model allows EIF to sustain and grow its advising programs while maintaining the flexibility to direct resources where they are needed most.
Individual and corporate investors play a vital role in funding EIF Scholars scholarships and supporting general operations, including the development of our Advisor Insights Tool and Pathways Intelligence Platform, which are strengthening our ability to track student outcomes and deliver even more effective advising.