Politics and the High Impact Nonprofit

Nonprofits exist largely due to government failure of a particular social problem. In chapter one of Forces For Good, Crutchfield and Grant stated that high-impact nonprofits like Teach For America are successful due to their ability to engage individuals, collaborate with other nonprofits, work with business and advocate to government(pg,23). One key feature that stood out to me was advocacy to government. In reference to Teach For America and advocacy to government, I could not help but think of Michelle Rhee. Michelle Rhee is a MPA graduate, Teach For America Alum and most importantly former Chancellor of the D.C. public school system. Recently, Rhee was pressured to leave her position as Chancellor due to her radical tactics (i.e. fire teachers and close several schools) in reforming D.C.’s public education system. This past December, she stated that among her journey as Chancellor, she learned that education reform cannot be accomplished without politics.


Politics is often synonymous with government. As a Teach For America Alum, Rhee plans to initiate her own ‘movement with a nonprofit called StudentsFirst for education reform. Based on Rhee’s reference to StudentFirst as a ‘movement’ and the comment about politics and education reform, it is clear that Rhee aspires for her nonprofit to be a high-impact nonprofit. After revisiting Rhee’s Newsweek article and reading the first chapter of Forces For Good, I can’t help but question nonprofits that mission is driven on education reform. How can a high-impact nonprofit and/or a movement reform the education system with politics?
Here is the link to Michelle Rhee’s Newsweek article: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/12/06/why-michelle-rhee-isn-t-done-with-school-reform.html