About
Democracy Prep Public Schools is a network of public charter schools headquartered in Harlem, New York City, with a distinctive focus on civic education. Its mission is to educate responsible citizen-scholars for success in the college of their choice and a life of active citizenship. The network describes itself as operating 10 schools serving roughly 3,500 students — whom it calls citizen-scholars — with operations in New York and references to campuses in Nevada and Texas.
Mission
Democracy Prep exists to educate responsible citizen-scholars for success in the college of their choice and a life of active citizenship. Alongside a rigorous academic program, the network makes civic knowledge, civic participation, and community engagement central to the student experience.
What they do
- Operate public charter schools where students attend school 7 hours per day, 180 days per year, gaining substantially more instructional time than in typical schools, supplemented by tutoring and summer learning.
- Deliver culturally relevant, rigorous curricula built around a whole-child approach.
- Run civics programming that includes voter registration drives, policy advocacy, and community service initiatives.
- Offer the Global Citizens Program, in which about 60% of students participate, including international travel experiences.
- Teach Korean as a distinctive language program; in 2025, 52 students earned the New York State Seal of Biliteracy in Korean.
Scale and impact
Democracy Prep reports that 83% of its graduates enroll in college, with alumni attending institutions including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Howard University. The network highlights independent research finding that enrollment at Democracy Prep substantially increases the probability that students will vote when they reach adulthood — raising students' voter registration rate by about 16 percentage points and their voting rate by about 12 percentage points.
Financials
According to the organization's Form 990 data on ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (fiscal year ending June 2025), Democracy Prep Public Schools (EIN 20-2629354) reported total revenue of $19,810,965, expenses of $19,631,068, and net assets of $17,287,212. Program services accounted for about 87.4% of revenue, with contributions making up roughly 11.5%. The IRS issued the organization's tax exemption in June 2007.
Governance
The network is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered at 1767 Park Avenue in New York City. Natasha Trivers served as Chief Executive Officer through June 30, 2025, per the most recent Form 990; other officers listed include Chief Financial Officer Valerie Martinez, Chief Strategy Officer Stephen Popper, and Chief Operating Officer Michelle Gieg.