Founding Team

Equity Now was founded in 2017 by a small group of impassioned idealists who believed one thing above all else: that real, measurable change doesn't have to wait on slow-moving systems. It can start in our own community, now. Not after another study. Not after another legislative session. Now.

That conviction is where our name comes from, and it shaped how we work from day one: seeding strategy, resources, and love directly into the families and communities who need them, rather than waiting on litigious, time-consuming policy fights to catch up to what children need today.

That conviction became a school. On September 27, 2018, the Maryland State Department of Education awarded Legends Charter School a three-year Charter School Program grant of up to $900,000. Legends was one of six programs funded statewide that year, with a plan to open as a new K-4 school, grow to K-8, and center learning on financial literacy and entrepreneurship.

The following June, on June 6, 2019, the Prince George's County Board of Education formally approved the charter. That same year, Atasha James, Equity Now's co-founder and then-CEO, transitioned from Equity Now to lead the new school directly, becoming Co-Founder, CEO, and Chief Academic Officer of Legends Public Charter School. Equity Now's founding work didn't end there. It found its fullest expression in a school built for the very children this organization was created to serve.