About Earl
Over 5,000,000 children attend abysmal schools every day in the United States. This equates to nearly 10% of U.S. school-aged children, ages 5-18, attend schools that fail them on a daily basis, essentially cutting them off from the futures that they deserve. Similarly, over 5,900,000 adults are unemployed or underemployed; the largest group of whom are Black and Hispanic. Earl’s work over the last three decades has been one that directly combats this epidemic, in the most impoverished communities across the country where the issues
are more pervasive, earning him the title asone of K-12 education's most visionary leaders. A founder and CEO of multiple successful nonprofits, his mission is to deliver educational excellence and equity to low-income Black and brown children and transforming families across the country.
Phalen began his 30+ year career in education while a law student at Harvard, where he founded Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL). which operated after-school and summer education programs in several major U.S. cities. With his vision, BELL grew from a small service project with 10 volunteers serving 23 children to a national non-profit with 52 full-time and 750 part-time employees education 12,000 scholars annually. Today, the legacy of Earl’s vision continues through the organization which has been renamed BellXcel and in its combined 25 year history, has touched the lives of 172,000 students across 135 sites in 28 U.S States.
Earl went on to launch Summer Advantage, which, like BELL became one of the nation’s scientifically proven programs. The mission of Summer Advantage USA is to harness the power of summer to help all children maximize their tremendous innate potential. Summer Advantage is a full-day, 5-week educational program that includes a healthy breakfast and lunch; rigorous morning academic instruction in reading, writing and math; and afternoon enrichment in areas including art, music, drama, physical education and science. Summer Advantage was proven to effectively close the learning loss that typically happens over the summer months when students aren’t engaged daily in an educational environment. Since its inception, Summer Advantage has served 20,000 scholars across the country producing consistently high outcomes—scholars gained 2 months reading, writing and math skills. Summer Advantage attracted national visibility including TIME magazine (cover story), BET Awards, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, Essence and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Most notably, it gained the attention of then Senator Obama who drafted legislation for increase summer learning programs centered around the success of Summer Advantage.
The Summer Advantage model was so successful, that Earl was invited to expand it into a full year school model in 2012 by the Indiana Charter School Board. He was granted approval to open 10 schools which became the George and Veronica Phalen Leadership Academies (PLA), named in honor of his parents. The first site opened in 2013 and since then, 26 additional PLA operated schools have opened in 6 states and the District of Columbia, serving over 10,000 children year round and poised to grow to 100,000 in the next 10 years. PLA’s focus is to turn around currently failing schools into top quality schools, providing students of any background the opportunity to attend quality schools in their own neighborhoods. In its short history, PLA is leading the educations sector as the largest minority run charter school management organization that specializes in School Turnaround. In PLAs short history, it has transformed 10 F rated schools to A and B rated.
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In 2021, Earl took on his newest leadership role as President and CEO of Great Jobs KC where he furthers his life mission to impact children and families who are in most need. Great Jobs KC is one of the nation’s most impactful programs in supporting young adults and adults who live in low-income communities on the pathway to good careers. Great Jobs KC has two core programs, one which awards 11th graders college scholarships and supports them to and through college. This year alone, Great Jobs KC awarded 775 scholarships to low-income students totaling over $38 million in scholarship dollars to ensure they graduate from
college. Two independent studies have been completed of the Great Jobs KC program covering 5 years of work, showcasing that scholars are on track for 75% graduation rates — which is 3 times the national average for low-income and first-generation students. Within his first year at KC Scholars, Earl secured an incredibly generous $50M grant from the Kauffman Foundation, to support adults who want to secure a credential in a high demand career. Over the next 10 years, Great Jobs KC is going to help 100,000 adults secure careers that allow them to care for themselves and their loved ones.
Earl has received a significant number of notable accolades and positions held, which surface in his book, Giving My All, released in June 2023. In 1997, President Clinton awarded Phalen the President’s Service Award for his impact on the lives of children. Other honors and awards include: The Silver Anniversary Award from NCAA; Black Law Student Association Community Service Chair; Co-founder of the Charles Ogletree Scholarship Fund; Board Member of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; Boston Uncornered Advisory Board Member; and Advisor for Coaching for Change. Phalen is also a Mind Trust and Ashoka Fellow. He was awarded the Black Entertainment Television (BET) National Hero Award and is a three-time recipient of Fast Company’s Social Capitalist Award. He has received recognition in numerous national media outlets, including TIME Magazine, FORBES Magazine, MSNBC’s Education Nation, Parent Magazine, New York Times, Education Week, IndyStar, Black Entertainment Television and Education Week. A leader amongst leaders, Earl has also been recognized for his leadership across the country as an Echoing Green Fellow, Ashoha Changemaker fellow and Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow.
Phalen holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Yale and a law degree from Harvard.
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