The fund is a response, announced in February, to recommendations made last fall in a report from the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. The anonymous donor requested that funds be used in Providence schools as soon as possible, said Marisa Quinn, assistant to Simmons.
Chancellor Tom Tisch '76 announced that Trustee Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar '87 MA'90, Chancellor Emeritus Artemis Joukowsky '55 P'87 and Vice Chancellor Emeritus Marie Langlois '64 have agreed to serve on the committee overseeing the fund. The committee members were appointed by Tisch partly because they all reside in Providence, Quinn said.
The fund is different from past University attempts to bolster city schools, Rodriguez-Farrar said. Though institutions such as Columbia University have opened private schools in their cities, such projects are "limited in scope" and do not aid all city students, Rodriguez-Farrar said. "Those kids are lucky," she said. Even Harvard University, which has worked with Boston public schools, is uncoordinated in its efforts, she said.
"The Brown model is looking to do something for the entire school system. It may start out small but we're expecting scalability across the school system," Rodriguez-Farrar said. "That's where we stand out."
Because Providence is a smaller city, Brown is able to make a larger impact on schools, she said.
University officials are hoping to have a "palpable impact" on the urban community, she said. "Very few places could potentially do this."
Rodriguez-Farrar, who is working toward a doctorate in education at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, said she has personal, research and intellectual interests in Providence schools.
"Literally what I do, all day, is think about education," she said.
The fund will grow from a wide range of donations from alums, philanthropists and Providence citizens interested in education, Rodriguez-Farrar said. Gifts can be made as small as $5, she said.
Education is "on a lot of people's minds," she said, because it has a direct impact on quality of life in the city.
"Without an educated work force, what kind of economy would you have?" she said.
The endowment will also provide Brown students further opportunities to become involved in local schools through research, volunteering, education and public policy. Students will be able to "assess the quality of what is working," Rodriguez-Farrar said.
"The beauty of this is that it feeds into the notion of the reciprocal relationship," Rodriguez-Farrar said. "Students will get insight into the application of their ideas."
