Welcome to the new home of the Equity Assistance Center-South
The Southern Education Foundation is the new home of the Equity Assistance Center-South.
The U.S. Department of Education has selected the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) to receive a five-year, $8.4 million grant to manage the Equity Assistance Center (EAC) for the Southern region of the United States. SEF will now manage the federal Equity Assistance Center-South (EAC-South) for Region II, serving 11 states—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia—and the District of Columbia.
Four EACs across the nation assist K-12 school districts, state education agencies, and others in resolving disparities and challenges in educational achievement and opportunity.
SEF is partnering with Westat, a Maryland-based research and capacity-building firm, to help provide EAC-South’s technical assistance to school systems, helping public schools use research-based strategies and tools to identify and address disparities in education. Westat prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusion as both organizational values and a framework for its research, capacity building, and evaluation services.
The EACs were originally established as the federal Desegregation Assistance Centers under Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act at the height of the nation’s challenges with school desegregation.
The EACs provide technical assistance and training, upon request, in the areas of race, sex, national origin, and religion to public school districts and other responsible governmental agencies (e.g., school boards, state and local education agencies, or other governmental units legally responsible for operating a school district or schools) to promote equitable education opportunities. The EACs work in the areas of civil rights, equity, and school reform, helping schools and communities ensure that equitable educational opportunities are available and accessible for all children.
The Southern Education Foundation is a 155-year-old nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works for justice in education in 17 southern states and across the nation. The EAC-South is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
CONTACT: Tonya Gentry, J.D., Director, EAC-South – eacsouth@southerneducation.org
The contents of this website were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education (Grant S004D220011), but do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and one should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.