Our History

1999
Billy and Emily Nepon decided to start up the organization for real. Karl Muth and Adriyel Paymer were in the founding crew. Karl had been raising money for SEF ever since he met Billy a year before, and Adriyel was our first self-educated webmaster -- a life-long homeschooler who had met Billy at Not Back To School Camp.

Later that year, Billy's book No More Prisons came out and introduced a lot of people to ideas about self-education, and SEF.

2000
SEF moved to a Philly-based board and working-crew and Adriyel, Karl, and Billy and a bunch of other excellent self-education advocates became our advisory board members. We moved into an office at 11th and Spring Garden Streets in Center City Philly, rented from the Industrial Workers of the World.

2001
This year, SEF gave out $10,000 in awards and launched our BUILD, Unlocked Minds, and School Funding Equity organizing programs. We received non-profit status on September 21, 2001. 

2002
In 2002, SEF gave out $5000 in awards and began fiscally sponsoring other groups. We began a process of restructuring and moved, with the IWW, to an office in West Philadelphia.

Unlocked Minds presented SEFs first video,"60%: The Sentencing Policies of the War on Drugs and their Effects on America" at a benefit show at Asian Arts Initiative featuring a screening of the movie, poetry by Taína, and a talk by co-founder Billy Wimsatt.

Unlocked Minds launched a prison writing workshop program.

BUILD got its resources on the internet and began working with young people. A reviewer from Topica.com called the BUILD website "precisely the kind of aggregated meta-site that makes research on the net tolerable."

2003
SEF gave out $5000 in awards, and continued our restructuring process. BUILD and Unlocked Minds became separate organizations fiscally sponsored by SEF.

Unlocked Minds concluded its first cycle in a series of writing workshops for incarcerated women. Philadelphia poets and activists Walidah Imarisha and Taina Del Valle conducted a bi-weekly workshop series from August 2002 until January 2003. The project, whose initiation was funded in part by the Samuel S. Fels Fund, received recent funding from the Phoebus Criminal Justice Initiative and support from New City Writing to enable its continued operation.

In April 2003, SEF hosted an amazing Benefit Show. Here's the review from a "A-listing" in the Philadelphia Weekly (written by Julie Gerstein):

Take one group of self-described queens of queer Palestinian hip-hop from Hawaii, mix with some Puerto Rican rebel rock rap and simmer with some local flavor, and you've got a sweet little benefit for the Self-Education Foundation. A nonprofit collective supporting self-education alternatives through grassroots community organizing and grant-making, the Foundation, started in 199 by local activists Emily Nepon and Billy Wimsatt, supports initiatives for home-schoolers and dropouts and pushes for student-led school reform. The collective also works with incarcerated self-educators and independent media developers. Enjoy performances from queer hip-hoppers Juha, rockers Ricanstruction, spoken-word charmers Walidah Imarisha and Taína Del Valle, and local sweethearts the Reflectors and support a good cause. What could be better? 

It was exciting to see that we had brought together a group of performers that had all been touched by SEF's work. JUHA and Ricanstruction had both received grants from SEF for their organizing work. Taína was an SEF board member and worked with Walidah on the prison poetry project. It was also exciting to bring together a group of amazing performers that crossed "cultures and disciplines" (a quote from our old mission statement). Thanks to all the young people in the front row who made the show even more fun! view pictures.

2004

In 2004, SEF gave $6,000 in grants to 14 groups

We continued to work with other groups as a fiscal sponsor.

2005

In spring 2005, SEF paid for four young women of color who are activists in their Philadelphia communities to attend the INCITE! Color of Violence conference in New Orleans, LA. These women, and others who attended from Philadelphia, have already formed an INCITE! Philadelphia chapter following the inspirational conference.

As 2005 nears its end, we are formally closing down SEF's non-profit status. For more information see Emily Nepon's letter.

click here for the updates archive

contact us!