E3 Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to ensure those most impacted by inequities are educated, empowered, and elevate to exercise their agency collectively in the South. It works to educate Black and Brown families through culturally competent, relevant, and sustainable engagement, to empower through the coalition building of Black and Brown led-organizations, leaders, educators, children, and families, and to elevate Black and Brown communities to act in their power and purpose.  The foundation is the brainchild of Audrey Lane and LaTisha Vaughn.

EDUCATE, EMPOWER, ELEVATE

Focus Areas

The work of E3 Foundation empowers Black and Brown families and educators and raises their combined influence to address the systemic challenges that affect them in education, housing, healthcare, workforce, and transportation in three focus areas:


Community Co-Creation


E3 Foundation partners with Black-led community-based organizations (CBOs) to shatter the barriers facing our communities’ families and children, leading to events that directly impact and empower families to advocate for their children and a long-term plan for coalition building.


Talent Pipeline Development


Through a regional talent strategy dedicated to promoting and supporting a pipeline of Black educators E3 Foundation creates regional cohort of effective leaders and teachers of color to ultimately improve student performance through their understanding and acknowledging culture, traditions, and norms that create a welcoming and successful environment for Black and Brown student.


Community Organizing and Advocacy


E3 Foundation is dedicated to uplifting the power of community through grassroots efforts of social justice through activism and political advocacy that will forever affect the lives of Black and Brown communities.

OUR IMPACT

Our Impact

The focus areas include impact in with their co-creation work with other Black-led organizations, community organizing and advocacy, and providing economic and social  justice for the greater Charleston, S.C. area.  Impact can be seen through Co-Creation Work, ProTruthSC, and Economic & Social Justice. Learn more by clicking each tab.

Co-Creation Work

E3 Foundation Co-Creation Project

Through co-creation work, E3 Foundation and five community-based organizations yielded two annual community-based events – Community-Wide Assessments and ParentFest - that directly impact and empower families to advocate for their children and a long-term plan for coalition building. With Community-Wide Assessments, we participate with local back to school events allowing students, Pre-K-5th grade sit with a teacher, who determined the students’ reading and math academic level to allow parents to monitor their children’s academic success. All testing is aligned with South Carolina State standards. ParentFest is an annual event that connects parents to resources and other amazing families, while empowering all parents to be the best advocate they can be for their children. Families enjoy a day of informative workshops, a keynote speaker, and resource and vendor booths. 


To read, click here, and to download, click here.



What about the Children?  Parent Engagement Report Panel Discussion

A discussion with E3 (Educate, Empower, and Elevate) and Tri-County Cradle to Career (TCCC) and its strategic partners as they discuss their most recent report, "What About the Children? Listening and Learning to Families and Professionals During a Pandemic". 


To watch the webinar, click here, and to read the report, click here

ProTruthSC

E3 Foundation is a founding member of ProTruthSC Coalition made up of a growing grassroots coalition of organizations and concerned citizens from across the Palmetto State and beyond. Its mission is to ensure that our children learn an accurate history of our country and state so they can grow up to be informed and engaged adults. Learn more by visiting ProTruthSC.  

Economic & Social Justice

Good Jobs Challenge

E3 Foundation, in partnership with the Charleston Chamber Foundation and Roper St. Francis Healthcare, were selected as one of 32 Good Jobs Challenges grantees to receive an $8.4 million grant to inclusive and equitable workforce growth within the healthcare industry. In an effort to develop an equity-centric, employer-led approach that builds upon our existing regional training systems to offer pathways to higher-level careers, Lowcountry Healthcare Careers Collaborative, formed with its partners, will work alongside community organizations to deepen regional strengths and address critical challenges.


Anti-Racist Speaker Series

Anti-Racist speaker series to provide an opportunity to build an intellectual pathway for participants to discuss racial disparities and anti-racist solutions through a racial equity lens. This series is grounded in the foundational thinking that racial disparities across sectors and specifically in South Carolina are firmly rooted in a system of white supremacy, which have created the current inequities, and therefore, cannot be resolved until the system has been acknowledged, disrupted, and rebuilt with equity at the center of the solutions.  The four session can be reviewed by clicking the button.

OUR TEAM

Audrey KS Lane

Founding Partner/Executive Director E3 Foundation

audrey@thee3group.com

A native of Columbia, SC, Audrey was most recently the Executive Director of The Royal Foundation, a non-profit focused on the educational, economic, and healthy transformation of residents in the North Charleston community and an extension of the largest African American Christian congregation (4,000 members) in the Charleston metropolitan area. In addition, she is a K-12 consultant with expertise in talent pipeline development, leadership development, strategy, and project management. Prior to her current roles, she was the Chief of Access & Equity for the SC Public Charter School District. In this role, she was focused on ensuring academic success for ALL children of the SC Public Charter School District by removing unintentional or intentional barriers that prevent every child from receiving an equitable, fair public-school education. Before joining the SC Public Charter School District, Audrey was the Deputy for Human Capital Development for the Charleston County School District (CCSD). Audrey has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Florida A&M University, an MBA in Marketing Management from DePaul University, and is a 2010 graduate of the Broad Residency for Urban Education.

Audrey’s Strengths:

Project Management, Human Capital Development, Strategic Planning, Stakeholder Engagement, and Non-Profit Leadership

LaTisha Vaughn

Founding Partner/Chief Programs Officer E3 Foundation

latisha@thee3group.com

Currently LaTisha spends her time as the Chief Programs Officer for a local non-profit and consulting with school districts and schools across the country utilizing her educational expertise and background experiences supporting antiracism and positive school culture. An accomplished educator with over 20 years of experience in both the traditional public-school environment and charter schools, she made SC home twelve years ago when she transitioned to Charleston and took the role as principal in the Charleston County School District in one of its high poverty schools. Prior to moving to Charleston LaTisha spent over five years in Atlanta, Georgia as one of the original staff members at Charles R. Drew Charter School, one of Atlanta’s most successful community revitalization projects. During her tenure with the Charleston County School District, after serving as principal for four years, she transitioned to the role of Assistant Associate Superintendent/Director of Educational Initiatives. LaTisha has a BS of Accounting from the University of Missouri, a BA in Elementary Education from Park University, and a MA in Educational Leadership from Georgia State University.

LaTisha’s Strengths:

Nonprofit Leadership, Results-Based Facilitation, School Leadership, Needs Assessment, Effective Curriculum & Instruction, and Stakeholder Engagement

Felicia Veasey

Director of Partnerships & Workforce Development

felicia@thee3group.com

Felicia brings over 15 years of experience in leadership, education, community engagement, and advocacy. Her background includes director-level roles at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, where she was responsible for overseeing pandemic response efforts and spearheading programs aimed at expanding healthcare access for residents of the state. She has also served as a Site Director for the Charleston County School District’s 21st Century Community Learning Center, where she was responsible for delivering integrated systems of service to empower students and prepare them for a successful future in the workforce. Felicia is also an Adjunct Health Professor at ECPI and subject matter expert on S.T.E.M careers and talent pipeline development. A connector by nature, she has served on multiple coalitions and boards utilizing her relationships across government, community, and the private sector to facilitate partnerships that advance social causes. Her work in the community has led to recognition from several organizations including The State of South Carolina, Charleston Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and First Baptist Church of James Island. She is the recipient of the 2022 USC Arnold School of Public Health - James Clyburn Health Equity Leadership Award. Felicia is also a participant in the second cohort of the Diverse Executives Leading in Public Health Fellowship. She believes that education is a key driver of success for black and brown people world-wide and is passionate about causes that are focused on accelerating outcomes in this space. Felicia holds a BA in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Health Administration from Tulane University.

Felicia’s Strengths:

Leadership, Program Management, Strategic Planning, Human Capital Management, Partnership Development, Relationship Management, Collaboration, Diversity and Culture, People Management

BOARD MEMBERS

Michelle A. Mapp, MEM, MPA, JD

Board Chairperson

Sherman Whites, Jr.

Senior Consultant &

Philanthropic Advisor

Board Member

Ashley Powell, Assoc. AIA, AICP

Deputy County Supervisor

Berkeley County Government

Board Member

Clare Kaye

Vice President

Director of Fund & Investor Accounting The Beach Company

Board Member

NEWS

ParentFest BACK A SECOND YEAR TO EMPOWER PARENTS

(CHARLESTON, S.C., Aug. 31, 2022)-- ParentFest is back for its second year on Saturday, Sept. 16, 8 AM to 2 PM, at Trident Technical College, 7000 Rivers Avenue, North Charleston, S.C. A continuation of the inaugural event, parents and families will receive resources that will empower them to be the best advocate they can be for their children. READ MORE HERE.

E3 Foundation RECEIVES W.K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION GRANT

(CHARLESTON, S.C., August 14, 2023) Today, E3 Foundation is proud to announce it is the recipient of a $100,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) to further its work of ensuring those most impacted by inequities are educated, empowered, and elevated to exercise their collective agency in the South. READ MORE HERE.

ProTruthSC AND SC UNITED COALITION HOLDS MEET ME AT THE STATEHOUSE EVENT FOR Freedom to Learn CAMPAIGN

(COLUMBIA, S.C., May 2, 2023) ProTruthSC and SC United Coalition will hold a special “Meet Me at the Statehouse” in observance of National Day of Action to kick-off the Freedom to Learn Campaign. This event will be the only event taking place in the state of South Carolina and is one of over 150 grassroots activations expected across the US and online on May 3. READ MORE HERE.


E3 MANAGEMENT

E3 (Educate, Empower, and Elevate) Management is a Black, women-led consulting group founded in 2016. With over 55 years of cross- sector experience, E3 works with leaders to provide strategic, equity based solutions to complex organizational problems. Our guiding principle, that those most impacted by systemic inequities - people of color- must be at the center of all decision-making, is not merely our North Star, but it is our fundamental approach to the work and is what sets us apart from the competition. E3 leaders are competent, committed, and community-minded leaders. They are experienced C-Suite Leaders in multiple sectors including non-profit, advocacy, private corporate, and public education. They provide voice to those closest to the problem and most impacted.  

Contact Us

OUR SERVICES

Organizational Assessments/Equity Audits

Understanding where you are as an organization is essential to understanding where you believe you want to go.  We will work with you to examine your organization's practices, processes, culture, and behaviors through a racial equity lens leading to recommendations that will help your organization achieve your strategic organizational goals.

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is key to achieving goals and milestones. We will guide your internal team and board through an inclusive strategic planning process that aligns your values to your goals and intended outcomes.

Professional Development

Building the internal capacity of individuals is imperative to deliver on the goals of the organization.  We will advise, design, and implement quality capacity-building professional development for your team and team members based on the needs of the organization.

Community Engagement

Authentic community engagement is the key to true alignment between strategic priorities and sustainable solutions for community-based organizations. We help build true and authentic community engagement strategies that support organizations in achieving their goals.

Leadership Coaching

Our team of experienced, successful Senior Level Leaders provide strategic coaching of C-Suite executives, emerging leaders, and teams of individuals leading to increased effectiveness and productivity with a goal of ensuring access and equity.

CONTACT US

Share by: