The Philadelphia Education Fund (the Ed Fund), an independent nonprofit organization, has been working to improve the educational achievement of underserved youth in the Philadelphia region for the past two decades. In 1985, the Philadelphia corporate, foundation and university communities began a bold experiment through the creation of PATHS/PRISM: The Philadelphia Partnership for Education, with a mission to provide resources and support for classroom innovation in the city's public schools. The Philadelphia Schools Collaborative, with the avowed purpose of institutionalizing systemic change within the schools, was founded shortly afterward and began working in conjunction with PATHS/PRISM to advocate for and facilitate school reform.