History

Pacific Charter School Development was founded in 2003 by President & CEO, Glenn Pierce, and Kim Smith and James Willcox of the NewSchools Venture Fund. The organization was formed to address the single greatest hurdle that high-quality charter schools face in educating urban children – securing adequate academic campuses. Recognizing this need, the three founders designed an organization that could marshal the resources of the leading members of the philanthropic community and socially-conscious lenders to produce new school seats in low income communities with the greatest need.

NewSchools Venture Fund was instrumental in providing the seed capital and expertise required to establish the organization. Since Pacific’s inception, NewSchools has been joined by The Broad Foundation, The Walton Family Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as providers of project equity. Operational support has been provided by these same organizations along with the Pisces Foundation, The Ahmanson Foundation, and The Weingart Foundation.

We are fortunate to have these great organizations supporting us. Their proven leadership in K-12 educational reform serves as a daily inspiration as we strive to positively affect the lives of the most underserved students of our com