New Year, Same (Big) Mission
Reflecting on 2024: A Year of Impact
As we kick off 2025, we take a moment to reflect on the incredible impact we made together in 2024.
Thanks to our generous donors, dedicated volunteers, and corporate partners, we were able to provide 403,387 children with essential Back 2 School Kits! It’s ensuring they had the tools they needed for a successful academic year. In total, we distributed a staggering 12,070,350 school supplies across the country!
These numbers reflect more than just supplies—they represent opportunities, confidence, and hope for students who might otherwise start the school year at a disadvantage. We are incredibly grateful for everyone who contributed to making this possible and look forward to reaching even more students in 2025.
Teachers are the foundation of our future



Inside the Kit
- Paper Products: Notebooks, Loose-leaf paper, Construction paper
- Organizational Aids: Folders, Binders, File organizers
- Writing and Art Supplies: Soft Lead Pencils, Colored Pencils,
Crayons, Pens (blue, black, and red), Washable Markers, Highlighters, Glue Sticks, Scissors
You Helped Us Make A Big Impact!
Together, we raised just over $7,250
This will help us provide teachers and classrooms with 36 Teacher Classroom Kits
Do you still want to help out a teacher or classroom? You can donate towards a Teacher Classroom Kit today and make a direct impact even though the holiday campaign is gearing down.

15-Year Legacy of Educational Impact
Let’s celebrate 15 years of success and look toward a brighter future. Whether through a donation, volunteering, or sharing our mission with others, your support will help us take the next step in our journey.
From Local Initiative to National Movement

Initially focusing on Illinois, our school supplies program expanded steadily, reaching increasing numbers of children from low-income families. The foundation established crucial partnerships with community organizations and government agencies to facilitate wider distribution networks.
In 2015, the organization rebranded as
Back 2 School Illinois, marking a significant expansion phase. The introduction of the Build-A-Kit initiative program that year accelerated growth by enabling companies to participate in team-building exercises while assembling school supply kits.
The organization’s most notable transformation started in 2018, with existing sponsors expressing an interest in funding initiatives making an impact beyond Illinois and the ever-increasing amount of school supplies in other states.
In 2022, we expanded our mission and impact and became Back 2 School America, serving more diverse and under-resourced communities across the country.

Expanding Our Reach in 2025
While we are thrilled to look back at all we’ve accomplished, this year is also about looking ahead. Our 15th anniversary is a call to action to do even more for underserved communities.
Here’s what’s on the horizon for 2025:
- Expanding to New Communities: We are committed to increasing our outreach to underserved schools and organizations across the country.
- Scaling Our Teacher Support Efforts: By providing even more Teacher Classroom Kits, we aim to alleviate the financial burden educators face when stocking their classrooms.
- Strengthening Partnerships: Collaborating with local nonprofits, corporate sponsors, and community leaders will allow us to maximize our impact.
- Engaging Volunteers Nationwide: From Build-A-Kit events to local distribution days and back-to-school bashes, we’re striving to bring more people into our mission to uplift students and teachers.
Interested in learning how you can partner with us to sponsor kits for students? Does your organization wish to receive kits?
Here’s to 15 years of empowering education—and the many more to come!

Changing American Educator Preparation – One Student, One Teacher at a Time
How can we better support the needs of a diverse group of up-and-coming aspiring teachers, including first-generation college students? At National Louis University, we’re exploring answers through strategies like family engagement, culturally responsive teaching, and personalized support—approaches that resonate with the challenges PK-12 educators face every day.
Click here to learn more from NLU Director Shawn Reddy and how he and his Educator Prep Program team are rethinking how we prepare the next generation of teachers.
National Louis University’s Undergraduate College – Educator Preparation Program: Changing the American Educational Landscape One Student, One Teacher at a Time
By Shawn Prakash Reddy
Director of Educator Preparation & Field Experience Programs
At National Louis University’s Undergraduate College, our Educator Preparation Program is dedicated to recognizing our students for who they are and supporting them as they strive to become the teachers they aspire to be. With over 1,600 students, more than 75% of whom identify as students of color and first-generation college attendees, we truly embrace the responsibility of transforming the American educational landscape, one student and one teacher at a time.
In alignment with this mission, our faculty and staff have committed to their own continuous learning by engaging in year-long anti-racist and anti-bias professional development, auditing our curriculum and instruction through the lens of the Illinois State Board of Education’s Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards, and conducting self-reflection and implicit bias work.
We asked ourselves: What does it mean to see our students for who they are and how they choose to present themselves to the world? What does it mean to truly embrace “servingness” in higher education – to meet the individual needs and support the personal aspirations of each student? While the answers are still evolving, we have initiated a more holistic, culturally responsive approach to our program.
Here are three key strategies that we have adopted (and continue to refine) to help guide our work:
1. Collecting, Analyzing, and Incorporating Student Data to Inform Our Work
Through student surveys and focus groups, we have gained a deeper understanding of our students’ needs and challenges. While it is important to celebrate student success, we also take an honest, critical look at areas where we may be falling short. By asking tough questions and fostering honest conversations, we have built stronger communication and trust with our students. This feedback loop enables us to co-create solutions, ensuring that our students play an active role in shaping their educational experience: our students now help us to help them.
2. Expanding the NLU Educator Preparation Community
Despite the recent politicization of the word “inclusion,” we remain steadfast in our belief that the feelings of inclusion and belonging are essential to any learning environment. As a result, we have strengthened existing partnerships and established new ones with impactful, like-minded educational organizations. One standout initiative is our “Somos Familia” Orientation, launched in Fall 2024. In response to our students’ feedback about a disconnect between their family life and university experience, we created an orientation that brought families into the fold. This event blended information-sharing with celebration, featuring music, games, photo albums, and food. By engaging families—our students’ primary support systems—we have fostered a deeper sense of community.
3. Adopting a Culturally Responsive Approach to Education Policy
Many higher education policies emphasize “equality” over “equity,” adopting a one-size-fits-all framework that does not align with the diverse needs of our student body. Every student is unique, including their needs and challenges. Recognizing this, we have re-examined our own policies, striving to interpret and adapt them to support students on a case-by-case basis. By understanding that fairness often requires flexibility and accommodation, depending on individual student’s circumstances, we aim to ensure that all students have an equitable opportunity to succeed.
These strategies represent just the beginning of our journey. We acknowledge that we do not have all the answers, but by asking the right questions and engaging collaboratively with our students, we are taking meaningful steps toward creating lasting change in education. Like you, at National Louis University we are committed to being the change we wish to see in the world.