Heckscher Foundation for Children
NYC High School Application Guide

The Heckscher Foundation for Children, founded in 1929, has a straightforward mission: Level The Playing Field for Underserved Children.

Heckscher recognized an urgent need to help low-income families navigate the NYC high school admissions gauntlet. In collaboration with a research team based at NYU, working under a one year contract, I led the creation of a Virtual Guidance Counselor app and site that levels the playing field for disadvantaged students. This project found me at the nexus of an interdisciplinary team including software engineers in Costa Rica and policy experts based at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education.

The New York City High School Application Guide was successfully deployed in 95 schools in fall 2017 within a controlled study by NYU.