About
Mission
It’s more than what happens in the classroom that adds up to a student receiving a great education. We strive to provide access to fun and diverse learning opportunities that ensure youth and young adults will develop their own creative pursuits, expand their education, and prepare for career success.
Vision
Our vision is to ensure St. Louis families have easy access to information about high-quality learning opportunities and the support necessary for their children to attend.
Values
Equity matters. A child’s zip code or financial status should not limit their access to educational opportunities and fun activities.
Find What works 4 You!
Our Team
Blueprint4 is staffed out of The Clark-Fox Family Foundation. Our team works hard to ensure that ALL families have access to information about high-quality learning programs across the St. Louis region.
Maxine Clark
Founder
Allie Cicotte
Chief of Staff
Abbey Barrow
Program Manager
Nicole Chen
Program Coordinator
Our History
In 2015, the Clark-Fox Family Foundation created Blueprint4Summer to simplify the summer camp search process and provide tools to help families prepare for success. They formed a team to gather and manage local summer program information, taking on the research and discovery process families previously had to do for themselves. They built the Blueprint4 platform to house and organize information about all the best summer learning opportunities. The easy-to-use mobile tool features a powerful search function, browsable listings, helpful links, and planning tools to help families prepare for summer success. It’s free-for-all and not-for-profit, supported by investors who care deeply about youth and education access.
The platform has continued to grow over time due to community demand, adding listings for college prep summer programs, STEM learning opportunities, and more. Our new unified search platform helps families find information about high-quality learning opportunities year-round in the St. Louis Region. Learn about our history, our family of platforms, and what brought us to where we are today.
2015: Building Blueprint4 Summer
Blueprint4Summer debuted in 2015 to rave reviews from local families and program providers, and has become the go-to destination for summer camp information in the years since.
2017: Graduating to Blueprint4 College Prep
The Blueprint4 team observed that there was a gap for older students who wanted to engage in the college process to kick off the next step in their educational journey.
The team created Blueprint4 College Prep in 2017 to aid students by giving them a platform to easily find programs across the nation.
2021: Branching Out With Blueprint4 STEM
The newest addition to the Blueprint4 family of platforms is Blueprint4STEM. Powered by STEMSTL, Blueprint4STEM uses our tried-and-true app platform to help students and families discover out-of-school STEM programs and extracurricular activities that allow students to explore, engage, and immerse in STEM learning experiences outside the classroom.
The team created Blueprint4 College Prep in 2017 to aid students by giving them a platform to easily find programs across the nation.
2023: Easy Searching Year-Round with Blueprint4
Launching in 2023, Blueprint4 is the next iteration of our search platform. By unifying our search platforms into one easy site, families can now find information about high-quality learning opportunities year-round.
Maxine Clark
Founder
Maxine Clark is one of the true innovators in the retail industry. During her career, her ability to spot emerging retail and merchandising trends and her insight into the desires of the American consumer have generated growth for retail leaders, including department store, discount and specialty stores. In 1997, she founded Build-A-Bear Workshop®, a teddy-bear themed retail-entertainment experience. Today there are more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide. Cumulative sales have exceeded $5 billion and over 140 million stuffed animals have been sold world-wide.
In June 2013, Maxine stepped down from her Chief Executive Bear role to apply her entrepreneurial skills to her passion for improving K-12 public education and encouraging and investing in women and minority entrepreneurs such as Goldie Blox, myEDmatch.com, Wondermento and St. Frank. Her newest addition to our education community is Blueprint4SummerSTL, an easy to use FREE app that assists ALL families in navigating best-fit summer programs for their children. Maxine is also a Managing Partner of Prosper Women’s Capital, a St. Louis based fund created to invest in women owned businesses in the St. Louis area and a member of the Board of Advisers of Lewis & Clark Ventures, a St. Louis based private equity firm.
In 2008, Maxine Clark was named one of The 25 Most Influential People in Retailing by Chain Store Age; in 2006, she was inducted into the Junior Achievement National Business Hall of Fame. Maxine was named one of the Wonder Women of Toys by Playthings magazine and Women in Toys, and was also one of the National Finalists in Retail for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2004. In 2005, the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies made Build-A-Bear Workshop Portfolio Company of the Year; it was named one of the International Council of Shopping Centers “Hottest Retailers of 2004” and the Retail Innovator of the Year for 2001 by The National Retail Federation. In 2014 Build-A-Bear Workshop was named to the FORTUNE Best Companies to Work For® list for the sixth year in a row.
In addition to her seat on the Build-A-Bear Workshop Board, Maxine is a member of the Board of Directors of Footlocker, Inc. and Gymboree. Maxine serves on the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of Washington University in St. Louis as well as the Board of Directors of Beyond Housing and Parents As Teachers. Maxine serves on the national Board of Trustees of Teach For America and the local St. Louis regional board, the National Board of Donorschoose.org and the KETC Channel 9 – PBS Board of Directors where she is Board Chair. She and her husband Bob Fox are founding donors of KIPP Inspire Academy and Maxine is the former chair of the charter school advisory Board of Trustees. She is also a member of the Committee of 200. Maxine is a graduate of the University of Georgia, and holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Saint Louis University. In 2006, she published her first book “The Bear Necessities of Business: Building a Company with Heart”.
As a child, Maxine’s favorite summer activity was art because it allowed her to take her creative talents to a new level. When she was old enough, she became a counselor at an art camp and loved every minute of it. She is working hard to make sure that children in St. Louis experience learning gains in summer rather than learning loss, have the opportunity to take their creative talents to new levels as well, and above all, have fun!
Allie Cicotte
Chief of Staff
Allie Cicotte serves as the Director of Programs for the Clark-Fox Family Foundation. She graduated from Truman State University in 2011 with bachelor’s degrees in German and Spanish. Allie then joined Teach for America where she taught Kindergarten-8th grade Spanish, and then transitioned to teaching Kindergarten. While teaching, she loved working with students directly, integrating innovative approaches alongside traditional classroom curriculum, and learning new things about the educational landscape both nationally and in St. Louis.
She saw a bigger opportunity to support families, schools, and students through work with The Clark-Fox Family Foundation. In her role as Director of Programs she seeks to create products and programs designed to create better experiences for all constituents, higher engagement, and successful children in the community.
As a native St. Louisan, Allie participated in a variety of summer programs throughout her childhood. Some of her favorites included taking summer classes at the local community college, swimming camp, and drama and theatre camps. She is excited for other St. Louis children to experience the wide variety of summer programs that St. Louis has to offer, to discover a passion, and stay engaged during the summer months.
Abbey Barrow
Program Manager
Abbey Barrow, a native of St. Louis, serves as Program Manager, working to engage partnerships around the Blueprint4 platform. Abbey graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa with degrees in English and Magazine Journalism. Following her graduation in 2015, Abbey joined the staff of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa working primarily on communications and resource development initiatives. While with the Boys & Girls Clubs, Abbey developed a passion for youth development and witnessed firsthand the power of out-of-school programming to help young people grow their skills and passions.
In 2019, Abbey joined the staff of Homeward, an organization pursuing systemic solutions to homelessness in the greater Des Moines community. She worked to bring together partners to implement a federal grant designed to prevent and end youth homelessness. Her work centered young people with lived experience homelessness, elevating their voice in the community to create change.
Now as part of the Clark-Fox Family Foundation team, Abbey looks forward to supporting youth, camp providers, and families in her hometown of St. Louis. In her role with the Blueprint4 platform, she will help provide connections to critical out-of-school resources, pursuing educational equity across the St. Louis region.
Nicole Chen
Program Coordinator
Nicole is excited to contribute her experiences in research and community-centered design to ensure that Blueprint4 is responsive to the community’s evolving needs. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2024 with Phi Beta Kappa honors. During her time at college, Nicole studied psychology and economics and developed a deep passion for nonprofit and DEI work through her involvement with the Sam Fox School’s Office for Socially-Engaged Practice and the Gephardt Institute’s Civic Scholars Program.
In addition to supporting educational equity and other social justice initiatives at the Clark-Fox Family Foundation, Nicole also does work in health equity, eating disorder awareness, and civic activism among Asian Americans. Outside of work, she spends her time hanging out with her hamsters and continuing her mission to visit every cafe in the St. Louis region.