City Forward Collective

What City Forward Collective does

City Forward Collective (CFC) is a Milwaukee-based 501(c)(3) education advocacy nonprofit founded in 2019 through the merger of PAVE and Schools That Can Milwaukee. Its stated mission is to end educational inequity for Milwaukee students by informing, engaging, catalyzing, and advocating through the city's parents and families, educators and school leaders, civic and community leaders, and state and local policymakers. Operationally, CFC delivers four strategic priorities: Inform (policy and data analysis including the SchoolFinder Quality Map, the Milwaukee School Quality Data Table sourced from Wisconsin DPI, and the By The Numbers citywide dashboard), Engage (convening 'Collaboratives' of stakeholders across 263+ publicly-funded schools serving roughly 108,885 students), Catalyze (growth of high-quality school options), and Advocate (running the affiliated CFC Action Fund 501(c)(4) which endorses candidates such as Brittany Kinser for Wisconsin State Superintendent).

CFC's core technology surface is a set of public-facing, self-serve web tools rather than a commercial SaaS product. The SchoolFinder Quality Map and School Quality Data Table aggregate DPI data on 136 Milwaukee Public Schools, 32 public charters, and 95 private choice schools, equally weighting student achievement and growth in a proprietary rating system. By The Numbers provides citywide enrollment, demographic, proficiency, and per-pupil funding dashboards. The Parent Power Hub packages engagement resources, the District Profiles inventory state legislators' education positions, and CFC Action Fund operates the political-advocacy arm. CFC's leadership team is a small (1-10 employee) but high-credential group headed by Executive Director Colleston Morgan, Jr. (former New Orleans Public Schools CSO, 2023 NACSA Change Maker, 2025 Madison365 Most Influential Black Leader), with Senior Advisor Robert Rauh (founder of four-campus Milwaukee College Prep network serving 2,000+ children), Senior Director of Strategic Investments Spencer Schien (continuity operator since PAVE 2015), Director of Communications & Advancement Chelsea Cross, Parent Engagement Coordinator LaToya Woods (mobilized 500+ parents on charter funding advocacy), and Manager of Finance & Operations Gennea Gaughan.

CFC's revenue model is donations and philanthropic grants, not commercial sales. The City Forward Collective, Inc. entity is a nonprofit with no parent company, no funding rounds, and no commercial pricing; the source material documents individual online donations via Click & Pledge plus grant relationships with foundations including the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and Herb Kohl Philanthropies. CFC does not sell products or services, has no disclosed annual budget, and its only earned income (in the sense of related-organization revenue) flows through its CFC Action Fund affiliate supporting political advocacy. Distribution of CFC's data tools is exclusively web-based, geographic scope is Milwaukee only, and growth is essentially constrained by donations, foundation grants, and volunteer-driven parent engagement rather than market revenue.

Name

City Forward Collective

Legal name

City Forward Collective, Inc.

Website

https://cityforwardcollective.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

City Forward Collective is a Milwaukee-based education advocacy nonprofit that provides data analytics tools and community organizing to advance educational equity for Milwaukee families, educators, policymakers, and civic leaders.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Advocacy and Policy

NAICS

Civic and Social Organizations (813410), Social Advocacy Organizations (81331)

akta.pro primary industry

K–12 Support & School Improvement Nonprofits (BPAGADAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Youth Leadership, Civic Education & Service-Learning Nonprofits (BPAGADAI)

Keywords

• Education advocacy
• School quality data
• Educational equity
• Parent engagement
• Policy analysis

Headquarters

HQ city

Milwaukee

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Donations: The organization accepts donations from individuals and organizations to support its mission of achieving educational equity in Milwaukee. Donations can be made online via Click & Pledge platform or by check.
2. Grants and Philanthropic Funding: The organization appears to receive grant funding from foundations and philanthropic sources, evidenced by references to partnerships with organizations like the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

City Forward Collective is a Milwaukee-based nonprofit that provides free public-facing school quality data tools (SchoolFinder Quality Map, Milwaukee School Quality Data Table, By The Numbers dashboard) and conducts policy analysis, parent engagement, and advocacy campaigns to advance educational equity across Milwaukee's publicly-funded schools. The organization also convenes stakeholder Collaboratives and supports pro-equity candidates through its affiliated CFC Action Fund.

Product overview

City Forward Collective is an education advocacy nonprofit organization offering a suite of data-driven tools and resources focused on ending educational inequity in Milwaukee. The core offerings include the SchoolFinder Quality Map (a visual school-locating tool), the Milwaukee School Quality Data Table (an interactive school performance comparison), and the By The Numbers dashboard (comprehensive education statistics). Additional offerings include the Parent Power Hub for family engagement, District Profiles for elected official information, and the affiliated CFC Action Fund for political advocacy. The organization does not operate as a traditional software platform but rather provides public-facing web tools and research reports.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SchoolFinder Quality Map A visual tool that allows families to explore schools near them, equally weighting student achievement and growth to help parents quickly assess school quality across Milwaukee's publicly-funded schools.
• Milwaukee School Quality Data Table An interactive comparison table providing detailed performance data across all publicly-funded Milwaukee schools with sorting and filtering options, sourced from metrics published by Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction.
• By The Numbers Dashboard A comprehensive data dashboard providing snapshots of Milwaukee's education landscape including enrollment trends, student demographics, proficiency rates, and per-pupil funding across all publicly-funded schools.
• District Profiles Profiles for State Representatives and State Senators providing information about elected officials and their positions on education issues for voters and advocates.
• Milwaukee's North Side Education Crisis Report A comprehensive analysis revealing that 22 of Wisconsin's 50 lowest-performing schools are concentrated on Milwaukee's North Side, with only 18% of North Side students attending high-quality schools.
• CFC Action Fund An affiliated advocacy organization that supports candidates and elected officials championing excellent schools for all Milwaukee students, including endorsements such as Brittany Kinser for Wisconsin State Superintendent.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 500 parents mobilized for funding advocacy under single campaign
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Milwaukee Reading CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCFC is a member of the Milwaukee Reading Coalition, a citywide effort to train every K3-5 teacher in the Science of Reading with real accountability for outcomes. CFC sent a letter of support when DPI blocked the coalition's access to Act 20 literacy funding.
• CFC Action FundcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCFC's advocacy affiliate that supports candidates and elected officials championing excellent schools. Works with CFC to advocate for policies. CFC Action Fund endorsed Brittany Kinser for Wisconsin State Superintendent.
• Greater Milwaukee FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor philanthropy partner in Milwaukee education initiatives, invested in Milwaukee Reading Coalition alongside other funders.
• Herb Kohl PhilanthropiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor philanthropy partner invested in Milwaukee Reading Coalition alongside other funders.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• EdChoice: Nonprofit advancing school choice through research, polling, and state-level advocacy — directly comparable in school-choice policy stance and data-driven advocacy.
• 50CAN: Network of state-level education advocacy campaigns pursuing school choice, accountability, and equity — directly comparable as a parent-voice advocacy organization with a state affiliate model similar to CFC.
• Stand for Children: National education advocacy nonprofit that organizes parents and advocates for school quality and equity — directly comparable in mission, organizing model, and policy-advocacy stance to CFC's Milwaukee work.
• National Parents Union: National federation of parent advocacy organizations focused on educational equity and parent power — directly comparable in parent-led advocacy and coalition organizing.
• PAVE (Parents for Public Education): Parent-engagement and advocacy nonprofit; one of CFC's two predecessor organizations (PAVE merged with Schools That Can Milwaukee to form CFC), making it an extremely close historical and operational peer.
• Families for Excellent Schools: Education advocacy organization focused on parent mobilization for high-quality school options — directly comparable in parent-engagement and school-quality advocacy model.

Broad incumbents

• NewSchools Venture Fund: Education-focused venture philanthropy that funds innovative schools and education entrepreneurs — broader funder/incumbent role in the education equity ecosystem in which CFC operates.
• TNTP: National education nonprofit focused on teacher quality and school performance — broader portfolio but operates in the same education equity and accountability space as CFC.
• Teach For America: Large national education nonprofit addressing educational equity through teacher placement and leadership development — broader in scope but comparable as a well-resourced education equity nonprofit whose alumni (e.g., Gennea Gaughan) flow into CFC's leadership pipeline.

Emerging players

• GreatSchools: National school-quality information platform serving parents — comparable as a data-driven school-rating and parent-information tool, though operating at national scale versus CFC's Milwaukee focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cityforwardcol

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about City Forward Collective