startupweekendeducationStartup Weekend EDU, an offshoot of the popular 54-hour Startup Weekend entrepreneurial bootcamps, has a new home.

The organization is now part of 4.0 Schools, a non-profit education incubator in New Orleans, Louisiana that will operate the education-oriented events across the U.S. UP Global, the parent company of Startup Weekend that last month was acquired by Techstars, will continue to oversee Startup Weekend EDU events outside of the U.S.

The change occurred as a result of UP Global switching to a for-profit status under the umbrella of Techstars, a move that meant the Startup Weekend EDU was no longer eligible for a $1 million grant from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that it received in 2013.

startupweekend-edueventAs a result of the change in ownership, Mandela Schumacher-Hodge, who led the Startup Weekend EDU expansion over the past two years via UP Globals Education Entrepreneurs , is stepping down from the organization. Program manager John Baldo will join 4.0 Schools full-time.

The organizations say that the programming at Startup Weekend EDU events will remain the same, focusing efforts “on the toughest challenges facing students, families, and teachers.” The two organizations have partnered over the past two years on Startup Weekend EDU events, which should make for an easier transition.

“This new partnership aims to provide many more education-focused teams with the launchpad and support they need to create new education solutions,” UP Global writes in a blog post. “Moving forward, the EE and 4.0 Schools communities will be a united movement of entrepreneurs, educators, parents, teachers, students, and others working to improve education through entrepreneurship.”

Marc Nager, the former UP Global CEO who now runs Techstars Community Programs, tells GeekWire that Techstars is 100 percent committed to supporting Startup Weekend events moving forward. He noted that they are looking at new ways to support the Startup Weekend community even more.

“This isn’t a spin-off, but rather a license relationship, where we can work with 4.0 to help provide more value and support to the education community than we could on our own,” Nager says. “Also, we have had a wonderful partnership with the Gates Foundation under UP Global for the past 3 years, and since we’re no longer a non-profit, this also allowed 4.0 and the team to continue working with Gates.”

He added that the deal is a “sign of our commitment to continue to explore creative ways” to support the startup community.

Startup Weekend EDU started in San Francisco in 2010, and since then more than 6,000 people have participated in the program. Last year, there were 46 Startup Weekend EDU events worldwide, including 22 in the U.S.

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