About the Foundation

We established The Amanda Rose Laura Foundation to honor the work and memory of Amanda Rose Laura, who tragically passed away in August 2017 at the young age of 25. Amanda was passionate about making the world a better place by enhancing educational opportunities for those growing up in poverty. When Amanda began her career as an educator with Teach For America, she taught underprivileged high school students in Chicago. It became obvious to Amanda that the education she received in her New Jersey hometown was dramatically different from the educational experience afforded her students in Chicago.

Amanda wanted to desperately fix this injustice; to level the playing field so that students growing up in poverty may have the same enriched educational opportunities and experiences that Amanda had previously assumed was available to all. Amanda’s own words said it best:

There are more than 16 million students living in poverty today. My students are among them. Studies show that one in three such students will not graduate from high school, and of those who do, only eighteen percent will enter a four-year college. From that subset, only nine percent will receive a bachelor’s degree by age twenty-five. These numbers don’t work out this way simply by chance. It is an issue of equitable education, of access, of having advocates.

Amanda wanted to be that advocate. We hope to fulfill Amanda’s dream through the work of this Foundation. With your generous support, we aim to provide to schools, educators and students the funds needed to supplement, subsidize, and support programs that can provide disadvantaged students with opportunities that they may not otherwise have. Following Amanda’s own example through the work she undertook, The Foundation will provide funding for ACT/SAT preparatory classes, tutoring opportunities, technology, and music, art and sports programs for those students in under-served communities.

In just a short time, Amanda made a long-term difference in the lives of her students. Our goal is to fund as many programs as we can, for as long as we can, in order to fulfill Amanda’s dream to make this world a better place. In her stead, we will advocate for these students and honor her memory by providing access to a well-rounded education for as many students as we can.