In this Q&A, Sorenson Impact Foundation Managing Director Eliza Roady talks with Michael Lombardo, Founder and CEO of BrightBee, about how the company connects workers with opportunities at schools in their communities and aims to better support students and teachers.
School districts across the country face growing challenges in hiring and keeping staff, including the workers who provide crucial everyday support in non-teaching roles. From the front office to the cafeteria and beyond, support workers make instruction possible for students, teachers, and administrators. When these support roles go unfilled, student performance can suffer. Schools also serve as a community connector—a place where students develop and grow, and workers can make a positive difference every day.
The Sorenson Impact Foundation invests in high-impact companies that are tackling pressing challenges across sectors for low-income communities, with an emphasis on creating paths to greater economic opportunity and stability. One of our latest portfolio companies advancing these goals is BrightBee, which connects people interested in working in K-12 schools with flexible hourly positions that support career advancement. By connecting workers with opportunities as teachers’ aides, special education paraprofessionals, cafeteria staff, custodians, front office clerks, and after-school group leaders, BrightBee helps individual workers obtain meaningful employment and professional growth opportunities while improving the overall learning environment in schools for teachers, administrators, students, and their families.
This innovative concept is the third educational business for BrightBee Founder and CEO Michael Lombardo. He recently joined me for a conversation about his newest venture and its impactful work to address school staffing shortages, build a stronger workforce, and nurture educational environments for youth.
Eliza Roady: Can you share a bit about why you established BrightBee and the services it provides to address some of the challenges of understaffing at schools and the ripple effects this can create?
Michael Lombardo: The K-12 and childcare workforce has been in crisis for many years now, with staffing being cited as a major concern for over 80% of administrators. Short-staffing takes its toll on students, who miss out on services and enrichment, and also the workers in the building who are stretched thin and often asked to do multiple jobs on a given day.
Most efforts to address this problem focus on teaching staff, but that’s actually less than half of the workers in a typical school or childcare center. The majority of the workforce are what are usually called classified or support staff—the people who do really important work to make the school run. These are positions like teachers’ aides, special education paraprofessionals, cafeteria staff, custodians, front office clerks, and after-school group leaders.
We started BrightBee because somebody needs to focus on the unique and complex needs of this part of the workforce and to work with schools to, as we say, ‘Support support staff.’
ER: What expertise does the BrightBee team provide to address the challenge of understaffing in schools?
ML: This is the third organization I’ve led in the education space, and both of my Co-Founders also have deep experience in the sector—our COO is also an elected school board member!
Collectively, our team has decades of experience both directly working in education settings and operating support organizations that aim to improve outcomes for children and youth. We’re a very mission-driven organization, filled with people who are passionate about ensuring that all children and youth have access to excellent education and enrichment.
ER: How does BrightBee connect with school districts to help them fill non-teaching positions at schools?
ML: Our model is different in three main ways. First, we put the worker in the driver’s seat and allow them to select the kind of work they want to do each day and at which school or program location. We’re also transparent about the pay rates, which vary from assignment to assignment and are based on the worker’s experience level. Our workers consistently tell us that this flexibility and the variety of different jobs they can do are the things they most value about BrightBee.
Second, we support workers as they upskill to take different kinds of assignments on BrightBee. There are many different kinds of jobs available each day, some of which have specific requirements such as a CPR license or ServSafe certification. While we don’t provide those certifications directly, we make it easy for workers to identify the gaps and to go out and get the licensure or certifications they need—usually at low or no cost to them.
Third, we place a heavy emphasis on community. Support staff are often the least seen and appreciated workers in the building, and because our Bees may be at different schools on different days it’s even more important that we help them feel a sense of connection. That takes the form of a large (and often cringey!) lexicon of bee puns and references throughout our app and workflow, providing spaces for gathering and connection both online and out in the world, and regular recognition from us as they achieve milestones or get positive feedback from a school.
ER: How do these job opportunities help workers gain skills and build a connection in their community? How does this play out beyond the schools—to impact families, communities, and society as a whole?
ML: One of the stats we’re most proud of is that 94% of our Bees report that since starting with us they feel a stronger connection to their community—and 98% are more excited about working in education or childcare. We really feel that our unique model helps them feel empowered and like they’re making a difference for children and youth.
That in turn promotes a better climate for students. 94% of administrators report that having BrightBee on campus improves school climate and provides a better support environment for students. 100% report that their regular staff feel less stretched thin, which also makes a difference—high staff morale means less turnover and better support for children and youth.
ER: What communities is BrightBee serving now? What are your plans for expansion into other regions?
ML: We currently operate in California, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio and we’ll be announcing some new states we’ll be expanding to in about a month.
ER: How does BrightBee raise awareness about its services among schools and the workforce?
ML: Well, all the Bee branding does help! More than once, potential partners have referred to us as ‘the Bee people.’
Word of mouth has been a huge driver for us. We’re very proud to have a 100% satisfaction rate among our partners, and they often share their positive experiences with their peers. Our Bees have also been a source of referrals. Many of them have experience working directly for schools or youth-serving organizations that they know need our help.
We’re also members of the American Association of School Personnel (AASPA) and have made a lot of great connections at their events, which often focus on discussions of the staffing crisis. We’re planning our own convening this fall in our hometown of Oakland, California, to specifically focus on the unique needs of classified and support staff, and to start creating a community of practice among administrators who care about improving experiences among that part of the workforce.
Eliza Roady has two decades of experience working across the venture capital, legal, and international development fields, bringing diverse expertise to her work supporting innovation to tackle the challenges of poverty. As the Managing Director of the Sorenson Impact Foundation, Eliza leads investment strategy and management for the Foundation’s program-related investment (PRI) portfolio, which is focused on achieving outsized impact and advancing innovation for low-income populations across sectors including healthcare, economic opportunity, financial services, climate, and responsible technology. Prior to joining the Sorenson Impact Foundation, Eliza was the Managing Director of Impact Investing at the Sorenson Impact Institute where she led the venture capital and impact investing apprenticeship training program and launched the program’s Inclusive Impact Initiative which aims to build a more diverse talent pipeline for the venture capital and broader investment ecosystem.
Michael Lombardo is a seasoned social entrepreneur and three-time founder of scaled and high-impact organizations. Before launching BrightBee, he founded one of the earliest online tutoring providers focused on K-12 schools, BookNook, which has been recognized by both MIT and Teachers College for its innovation and impact on student achievement. Prior to BookNook, Michael served as the founding CEO of the children’s literacy nonprofit Reading Partners, growing it from a small regional operation in Silicon Valley to a nationally scaled organization serving students across 14 states. The organization received accolades from Stanford University and the Social Innovation Fund, a signature initiative of the Obama administration.