Crossing the River Jordan Award

Previous Winners

Edward Meade Jr. (1998)
There are few individuals in the history of the local education fund movement that have had a greater impact than Edward Meade Jr. As a program officer for the Ford Foundation on education and urban poverty issues for over three decades, Ed Meade was responsible for the creation of numerous programs directed at improving our nation’s public schools.

Meade’s efforts fostered the advocacy and vision, and provided the funds, that led to the creation of the first local education funds in the early 1980s. His belief in the viability and vitality of local education funds was unwavering, so much so that it almost cost him his job when he refused a superior’s request to cut off funds to the fledgling groups. For his untiring efforts on behalf of education for poor children, and specifically for his direct involvement in and support of the creation of local education funds, Ed Meade was posthumously awarded the Crossing the River Jordan Award in 1998.

A former teacher and school administrator, Ed Meade had a practitioner’s view of the problems of public education. He carried that unique view with him from boardroom to classroom, from Harvard to Harlem. Meade—an advisor to governments, national commissions, national education reform organizations, and schools of teacher education—never lost his capacity to take the time to talk to people at the grassroots level. He was personally responsible for launching and enriching dozens, if not hundreds, of careers in advocacy, education, and public service.

In recognition of a life of vision, dedication, and commitment to the education of America’s children, Public Education Network presented the Crossing the River Jordan Award to the family of the late Edward Meade Jr. in a ceremony at the World Bank in Washington, DC. His dedication to the power of public education to overcome difficult circumstances made him a fitting honoree for a conference focused on the theme of “Breaking the Cycle of Poverty.” In a presentation that included personal reminiscences from some of Ed Meade’s closest colleagues and associates, his widow, Miriam Meade, accepted the award.