Ninive Calegari

Ninive Calegari 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. She also serves as the founder of the Climate Career Corps, focusing on environmentally sustainable career paths for youth.

In addition, she is the co-founder, with Dave Eggers, of 826 National, which she helped grow from a local tutoring program into an influential education phenomenon that partners with schools, families, and community organizations across the country. Calegari explores how scalable social projects can have a profound effect on thousands of young lives and has seen the model inspire nearly 40 similar centers globally.

A former teacher herself, Calegari is the president of the Teacher Salary Project; the co-author of "Teachers Have It Easy;" and the co-producer of "American Teacher," a documentary by Oscar-winning director Vanessa Roth, narrated by Matt Damon. With McSweeney’s founder Dave Eggers, Calegari started 826 Valencia, a student writing program that has spawned 826 National as well as many other local 826 chapters. She has spoken on various platforms, including a TEDx talk titled "Teachers: A Matter of the Heart," and has appeared on MSNBC discussing issues related to teacher pay. Calegari has been recognized with the Jefferson Award for her contributions to education.

Calegari holds a Master’s degree from the Harvard School of Education and spent ten years as a teacher, at Drake High School in San Anselmo and at San Francisco's first charter school, Leadership High School. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and children.