Learning happens everywhere, but opportunity is less prevalent. In the United States, K-12 students learn across a range of contexts — schools, homes, digital channels, and community spaces — that are often fragmented and difficult to navigate. The result is a lack of coherence and coordination that limits impact, as well as uneven access to the resources and support systems many students need.

Siegel Family Endowment and the Walton Family Foundation wanted to surface and accelerate solutions that could address these equity and coherence gaps by helping communities and education changemakers connect learning across contexts.

There is no shortage of innovation in education — but many promising efforts remain isolated, difficult to integrate, or inaccessible to the learners who could benefit most. What if we could strengthen the “connective tissue” of learning — elevating solutions that integrate digital, physical, and social infrastructure across in-school, community, and virtual environments?

Luminary Labs designed and delivered the Learning Landscapes Challenge, a $2.2 million competition that functioned as both an innovation engine and an ecosystem builder. The challenge brought together two funders with complementary networks and priorities, enabling broader visibility and a richer network of judges, mentors, and partners. Over just 18 months, the challenge helped a cohort of teams develop stronger solutions while rallying a wider field of mentors, judges, champions, and collaborators around an emerging vision for connected learning experiences. 

We designed the three-phase challenge to rapidly advance solutions and provide value at every stage. During Phase 1’s open submissions period, broad recruitment surfaced diverse approaches and generated insight into what innovators across the country were building. This phase received 270 submissions from teams in 44 states and U.S. territories. Phase 2 offered seed funding to 40 semifinalist teams, who joined a 14-week virtual accelerator emphasizing prototyping and proposal refinement through expert-led webinars, office hours, and partnership support. In Phase 3, five finalist teams received $200,000 each and participated in a six-month incubator that included an in-person boot camp and tailored technical support. This approach supported teams at different maturity levels, helped de-risk implementation, and advanced a wide range of solutions.

Even within a competition format, the challenge intentionally created conditions for collaboration. Teams learned from one another, built connections with mentors and judges, and gained visibility on a national stage. Mentors, judges, and a broader network of champions and supporters also made lasting connections through their engagement with the challenge. The accelerator included a partnership community that invited external organizations to connect with semifinalists, reinforcing the challenge’s role as a hub for collaboration. 

Strategic convenings and communications supported team visibility and ecosystem-building, engaging a growing network and amplifying teams’ stories and successes. A public-facing website and newsletter served as a consistent and credible hub for challenge resources and updates, while in-person gatherings at major education events (SXSW EDU, Grantmakers for Education, and ASU+GSV) helped build momentum, engage champions, and strengthen the network. We provided storytelling support — team profiles and video features, narrative coaching and pitch practice — to help teams communicate complex solutions. At Demo Day, the culminating event, finalist teams presented their solutions to an audience of funders, experts, and other stakeholders. This integrated approach to communications and events extended the program’s reach while reinforcing a collective narrative.

The challenge announced two grand-prize winners at Demo Day. Each winner received $500,000 to help implement and scale their solution:

• New Visions for Public Schools. This system for coordinating student data and wraparound services aims to decrease absenteeism and improve academic and life outcomes for youth living in New York City shelters. By integrating parent-school communication, AI-driven student needs monitoring, and check-ins with trusted adults, New Visions for Public Schools, in collaboration with New York City Public Schools and other city agencies, is developing a holistic support model to drive student success.
• Xchange Chicago. This experiential learning model is bridging the gap between classroom education and tech careers by providing opportunities for students to acquire essential industry skills. By integrating an in-person innovation hub on the Comer Education Campus with an IT delivery center that provides local apprenticeships, Xchange Chicago is leveraging tailored project- and work-based learning experiences to create accessible pathways into rewarding tech careers.

All five Phase 3 teams are now serving students across multiple states (Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia), moving toward full implementation and scaling. They’ve prototyped their solutions, validated key assumptions, built crucial partnerships, and developed clear implementation roadmaps — making them investment-ready for funders who share their vision for transforming education.