Charter school cranks up national recognition

BRADENTON — Visible Men Academy, a startup K-8 public charter school in Bradenton, has been named to the Aspen Institute Ascend Network, one of 58 organizations selected nationwide for the recognition and funding.

The network, according to a release, uses “two-generation approaches to disrupt poverty and create economic mobility for families.” The two-generation approach, says the Aspen Institute, looks at the whole family's needs to provide opportunities for children and their parents together.

The school competed against more than 250 other organizations for acceptance into the network. “These leaders are fueling change for America's families,” Aspen Institute president and CEO Walter Isaacson says in the release. “As we reflect on the 50th anniversary of the 'War on Poverty,' the Aspen Institute is proud to invest in transformational ideas to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.”

Visible Men Academy co-founder Neil Phillips has also had some recent national recognition: Last year he won the Nantucket Project Audience Award from The Nantucket Project, an intellectual and civic engagement conference.