Nínive Clements Calegari is an educator in the United States. Following ten years of classroom experience in public schools, she became an author and founded a national literacy program, 826 National. She also founded The Teacher Salary Project. Currently she is the CEO of , 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 of 2019, Calegari was awarded an from the University of San Francisco. For high school, Calegari went to Santa Catalina School and graduated in 1989, later going to Middlebury College to receive her bachelor's degree in 1993 and a Masters in Teaching and Curriculum from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1995. She worked at Leadership High School, San Francisco's first charter school, where she also served on the Board of Directors, and then taught in her family's hometown in Mexico. Calegari was a co-founder of 826 Valencia in April 2002 and the founding executive director. The group and the seven other related chapters, including , 826LA, , , , and finally , all of which are a part of 826 National 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 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 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 . 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 with music composed by San Francisco musician Thao Nguyen. In 2008, Calegari was appointed by San Francisco MayorGavin Newsom to the San Francisco Arts Commission. She served on the board of Learning Points Associates,as an advisor to the George Lucas Education Foundation., and then a Board member for . In 2014, Calegari gave a at Santa Catalina School on the importance of valuing teachers. In 2015, Calegari and the Teacher Salary Project released two short films, and , 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 as part of Women's History Month for her work with and . In 2019, Calegari appeared on to discuss the teacher's pay gap based on her work with . In May of 2019, , the Doctor of Humane Letters, from the 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 Fellowship, the William Coe Award for study at Stanford University and the Andrew Mellon Fellowship. In 2007, Calegari received Edutopia's 2007 Daring Dozen award. The Jim Henson Community Honor in 2010 was awarded to 826 National. Calegari was awarded the Hidden Villa Humanitarian Award, along with Dave Eggers, in September 2016. Calegari and Eggers were given the Jefferson Award for their work with 826 Valencia in November 2016. Recipient of the
