ACCEPT: Admissions Community Cultivating Equity & Peace Today

On behalf of ACCEPT’s Board of Directors, I write today with bittersweet news that ACCEPT, Inc. will cease operations on March 31, 2024. The last 8 years have been a thrilling ride, with opportunities, challenges, & success beyond our imagination. ACCEPT's success and longevity are because of you! ACCEPT supporters center equity and justice in our work & communities. ACCEPT supporters create change in our professional associations, in public policy, & in our workplaces. ACCEPT supporters care for the students & professionals who have been systematically kept from higher education. ACCEPT supporters organized & attended over 200 online & in-person gatherings. ACCEPT supporters have donated over $200,000 to our organization since 2016, and we are able to sunset ACCEPT without any outstanding debt. I have no doubt that ACCEPT supporters will continue removing the barriers in the path to higher education, especially for the historically excluded. I am proud of ACCEPT’s collaborations with organizations like Meta/Facebook, the Gates Foundation, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. The Joyce Foundation & the RISE Center of Colorado State joined us in hosting Hack the Gates: Radically Reimagine Admissions, a project with ongoing impact on college admissions & public policy. FairTest & ACCIS co-authored ACCEPT’s amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of race-conscious admissions practices. Thank you to our professional organizations that have supported ACCEPT: ACCIS, Common Application, NACAC & affiliates, and Reach Higher. Special thanks to ACCEPT’s Board of Directors, an outstanding group of leaders who helped navigate ACCEPT through so much: Byron Arthur Ashley Bennett (Director of Community Engagement) Thom Butler Heath Einstein (Chair) Steve Frappier Tammy Garnes (past Director) Scott Intagliata Priscilla Morales Tamara Siler Brandi Smith (past Director) Tanreka Smith Leticia Vasquez Very Special Thank Yous to Ashley Bennett, who has co-lead ACCEPT since 2020, Heath Einstein, who has served as Board Chair since we formed the board, & Steve Frappier, who has been with me since the late 1900s. I love you so much! ACCEPT will host thank you celebrations in our Facebook group this spring and at the NACAC conference this fall. We will publish a final impact report and financial report by the end of 2024. Personally, I will continue leading IQID Technology (formerly known as Accelerated Equity Insights), a tech startup that transforms admissions data into equitable communication practices. While I described this news as “bittersweet,” please know that the sweet FAR outweighs the bitter in this transition. I’m in awe of the impact of this community on college admissions, and that impact will continue long after we step away from the work. Together, we changed college admissions for the better.