Nínive Clements Calegari is an educator in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Following ten years of classroom experience in public schools, she became an author and founded a national literacy program,

826 National 826 National is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students, ages 6–18, improve their expository and creative writing skills. The organization's eight chapters include 826 Valencia in San Francisco, 826NYC in Brooklyn, 826LA in L ...

. She also founded The Teacher Salary Project. Currently she is the CEO of Enterprise for Youth, an organization that empowers young people to prepare for and discover career opportunities in the San Francisco area through a three-phase program model of job-readiness training, paid internships with college credit, and ongoing career development and networking support.

Biography

In May 2019, Calegari was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of San Francisco. For high school, Calegari went to

Santa Catalina School Santa Catalina School is a private school in Monterey, California, United States, founded by Sister Margaret Thompson and the Dominican Order in 1950. Situated on a 36-acre hacienda-style campus, the Upper School is an all-girls boarding school ...

and graduated in 1989, later going to

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

to receive her bachelor's degree in 1993 and a Masters in Teaching and Curriculum from the

Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first ...

in 1995. She worked at Leadership High School,

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

's first charter school, where she also served on the board of directors, and then taught in her family's hometown in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. Calegari was a co-founder of

826 Valencia 826 Valencia is a non-profit organization in the Mission District of San Francisco, California, United States, dedicated to helping children and young adults develop writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. It was ...

in April 2002 and the founding executive director. The group and the seven other related chapters, including 826NYC, 826LA, 826 Seattle, (which later moved on to become The Greater Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas), 826 Chicago, 826 Ann Arbor, 826 Boston and finally 826DC, all of which are a part of

(which she also co-founded and headed) are a group of non-profit writing centers for students ages 6–18. Subsequently, 826-like models have been duplicated in 40 places around the world, including in London, Dublin, and Mexico. Calegari, along with

Dave Eggers Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. His 2000 memoir, '' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius'', became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is a ...

and Daniel Moulthrop, co-authored ''The New York Times'' bestselling book ''Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers'', published by

The New Press The New Press is an independent non-profit public-interest book publisher established in 1992 by André SchiffrinReid, Calvin (December 2, 2013)"New Press Founder André Schiffrin Dead at 78" ''Publishers Weekly''. Accessed August 1, 2014. (Chev ...

in 2005. It argues that increasing teachers' salaries is a critical part of a vibrant and functioning society, and essential to ensuring US students receive education from quality teachers. Calegari founded and serves as CEO of The Teacher Salary Project, a non-profit designed to build the political will necessary to transform how US society values effective teachers. The project uses film, social media, and the general public to communicate its mission. The Teacher Salary Project's film, ''American Teacher'', held its first preview screening in May 2011 at the

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by SFFILM, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in international film and vid ...

. It was also featured in numerous other film festivals, including the United Nations Association Film Festival and Philadelphia International Film Festival. The film was produced by Calegari and Eggers, and directed and produced by filmmaker Vanessa Roth. The film is narrated by actor

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon ( ; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. He was ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars in 2007, and in 2010 was one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He has received va ...

with music composed by San Francisco musician

Thao Nguyen Thao Nguyen (born March 19, 1984), also known as Thao, is an American singer-songwriter originally from Virginia and now based in San Francisco. She is the former lead singer, songwriter and figurehead of the defunct band Thao & the Get Down Sta ...

. In 2008, Calegari was appointed by San Francisco Mayor

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom ( ; born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served from 2011 to 201 ...

to the San Francisco Arts Commission. She served on the board of Learning Points Associates (which later was merged wit
American Institutes of Research
, as an advisor to the George Lucas Education Foundation., and then a board member fo
18 Reasons
In 2014, Calegari gave a TEDx talk at

on the importance of valuing teachers. In 2015, Calegari and the Teacher Salary Project released two short films, Laney's story and Kory's story, which follow two teachers struggling to make ends meet on a teacher's salary. The two short films were featured in a video on ATTN: which received over 12 million views. In 2018, Calegari was featured and honored as a Homework Hero on ABC-7 as part of Women's History Month for her work with 826 Valencia and 826 National. In 2019, Calegari appeared on MSNBC to discuss the teacher's pay gap based on her work with The Teacher Salary Project. In May 2019, she gave the commencement address for the School of Education and received an honorary degree, the Doctor of Humane Letters, from the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

for her work both in the city of San Francisco and nationwide.

Awards

Calegari has been the recipient of a

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

Fellowship, the William Coe Award for study at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and the Andrew Mellon Fellowship. In 2007, Calegari received

Edutopia The George Lucas Educational Foundation is a nonprofit publishing company, publisher that documents and publicizes exemplary K-12 education practices and programs, especially through video. It does this primarily through the Edutopia website. O ...

's 2007 Daring Dozen award. The

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...

Community Honor in 2010 was awarded to 826 National. Calegari was awarded the Hidden Villa Humanitarian Award, along with

, in September 2016. Calegari and

Eggers Eggers is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Alfred J. Eggers (1922–2006), NASA administrator *Bartholomeus Eggers (c.1637–1692), Flemish sculptor active in the Dutch Republic *Dave Eggers (born 1970), American writer, editor ...

were given the Jefferson Award for their work with

in November 2016. Recipient of the Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, University of San Francisco, School of Education, May 16, 2019.

Works

826 Valencia
Kate and Charlie Gibson talk 'The Book Case' podcast and new writers
''Good Morning America,'' Feb 16, 2023
Molding the Next Generation of Writers
''CBS,'' Jan 21, 2023
CA “Megafloods” , Literacy with Dave Eggers & 826 Valencia
''KQED,'' Aug 19, 2022 American Teacher Act
Lawmakers propose raising teachers' minimum salaries to $60K to stem 'mass exodus'
''ABC,'' Dec 14, 2022
Could the U.S. Soon See a Federal Minimum Salary for Teachers?
''EdSurge,'' Dec 14, 2022
Teachers In 6 States Will Get Raises. More Could Join Them
''The Teacher Salary Project,'' July 5, 2023
Under a new federal bill, a minimum teaching salary of $60,000
''The Educators Room,'' Dec 17, 2022
A Note About The American Teacher Act
''McSweeney's,'' Dec 16, 2022
Teachers Would Make At Least $60k Under New Federal Bill
''The Teacher Salary Project,'' Dec 15, 2022
Congresswoman Wilson's Press Release
''The Teacher Salary Project,'' Dec 13, 2022
Will the teacher pay gap be fixed on a federal or local level?
''MSNBC, March 27, 2019''
Why teachers’ salaries should be doubled — now
''The Washington Post,'' March 25, 2014
100 Stories of Impact - An Advocate for Teachers and Students
''Harvard Graduate School of Education'' Other Work * * * * "Op-Ed" contribution. * * * *

References

External links

*
Interview
scottishbooktrust.com; accessed August 23, 2017.
ABC-7, KGO-TV, San Francisco, CA
(October 20, 2008)
Video of ABC-7 Profile of Excellence on Calegari
youtube.com; accessed August 23, 2017.

accessed August 23, 2017.

accessed August 23, 2017. *Baba, Hana. (November 23, 2015)
Interview: Elevating Teaching as a Profession

"Stories from the Field"
Middlebury.edu; accessed August 23, 2017.
ABC-7, Honored as Homework
Hero March 30, 2019
MSNBC appearance
discussing teacher pay gap March 27, 2019
Commencement address and honorary doctorate
at USF's School of Education May 16, 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Calegari, Ninive Clements American writers of Mexican descent Living people Middlebury College alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) People from the San Francisco Bay Area Schoolteachers from California 21st-century American women educators 21st-century American educators