From Superintendent to Funding Architect: How One School Leader Unlocked Millions for Underserved Communities
Yocheved shares her journey from urban charter CAO and superintendent to building an early online schooling program, then founding ClearSquare Group, which has secured more than $15.6M in government and foundation funding. She explains why so many schools and nonprofits leave money untouched, how to translate regulations into real programming, and how systems thinking from the principal’s chair shaped her unique consulting model.
Bio
If you say, “Jump,” I’ll ask, “Why?” Let’s challenge the status quo.
Yocheved Belsky is the founder and CEO of Clear Square Group, an organization focused on providing educational consulting for institutions, schools, and organizations. When clients requested helpfully utilizing pandemic-related EANS funding for school services, Yocheved launched M²Learning to help non-public schools and their students succeed despite the pandemic.
Yocheved has over 20 years of experience in the educational services industry as a charter school superintendent, service provider, key consultant, and K-12 educator. As a nonpublic school educator and charter school superintendent, Yocheved spearheaded one of the earliest online school programs in the country. In her work as a third-party service provider and educational consultant, she has created many government-funded educational programs and brought them to the market for different school models.
Yocheved is passionate about making sure all students receive the services they need to succeed in school. Through managing conflicting stakeholders, assessing educational needs, securing funding, and driving compliance measures, Yocheved and the M²Learning team provide an all-encompassing approach to help students succeed.
Topics
- What school leaders misunderstand about government funding
- The “systems lens” she gained as superintendent
- Building one of the earliest online school programs
- Why schools leave money on the table
- Turning dense regulations into step-by-step strategy
- Real examples: funding wins that changed student outcomes
Guiding Questions
- What did you see as a superintendent that most people outside the seat never realize?
- What made your online schooling program so ahead of its time?
- Why do even high-performing schools regularly miss major funding opportunities?
- How do you translate a 200-page regulation into a program schools can actually run?
- What’s one example of a school transformation unlocked by new funding streams?
- What is the first step leaders should take if they suspect they’re leaving money unclaimed?