Ballmer Group is committed to improving economic mobility and opportunity for children and families in the United States.

Early Childhood & Families grants build systems of support and care for our littlest kids in the most critical point of their brain development by promoting equity in prenatal and maternal health, ensuring that families and kids engaged with the child welfare system can quickly get critical support, and helping all families access high quality childcare and early education.

Ballmer Group’s first grants centered on the child welfare system – a network of services whose purpose is to ensure child safety and to strengthen permanency in families. These grants continue to support affected families and kids and to transform systems in order to improve prevention and to reduce racial disparities in care.

K-12 Education grants seek to reduce and eliminate inequities that shortchange student achievement, by strengthening both the in-school academic experience as well as wrap-around and afterschool support. We believe that all neighborhoods deserve strong schools and a more representative, racially diverse workforce of teachers and school leaders.

Housing & Homelessness grants address the relationship between stable housing and economic mobility through a focus on policies to undo systemic racism in housing, increase housing supply, and reduce homelessness through long-term partnerships with nonprofits and government.

College & Career grants expand pathways to good jobs and careers, a cornerstone of economic mobility, by providing support so youth can pursue post-secondary education that leads to a degree or certification. Alongside a college degree, young people and adults need access to career training and apprenticeship programs with a direct pipeline to local employers.

Criminal Justice Reform grants transform U.S. adult and youth justice systems to be fairer and more effective through advocacy, strengthening community-led approaches to violence intervention, automatically expunging old and outdated criminal records, and ensuring that affected individuals and families have access to career opportunities.

This portfolio sits alongside our focus on economic mobility to address another critical challenge for families around the world - climate change. Every tenth of a degree in warming undermines the gains we have made in economic mobility. Philanthropy has the unique opportunity to accelerate the deployment of existing solutions to keep us within a safer degree of warming. Our initial investments address deforestation and lessening global dependence on fossil fuel.