The Bridgeport Public Education Fund was established in 1983 as an independent advise fund of the Bridgeport Area Foundation. The first outreach to the district was sponsoring the Mini-Grants for Teachers program. Community members evaluated the proposals by personally visiting teachers and making funding decisions. Although over one million dollars was given to teachers for their classroom projects, the main purpose was to bring community members into the schools, to meet teacher and students, and gain a new perspective of what urban schools looked like helping to dispel the myths of the surrounding communities.

As of January 1, 1994 the Bridgeport Public Education Fund, Inc. has been operating as a separate non-profit, tax-exempt educational organization. The Fund is administered by a Board of Directors made up of school, business and civic leaders. BPEF is also one of the few local education funds in the country that consistently recruits students to serve on the board of directors. The Fund is designed to stimulate excellence in the Bridgeport public school system by providing support for innovative programs that improve the educational climate in the city's schools.

Priorities of the Fund are to increase the community's involvement in the schools, to foster awareness of the school systems many strengths and to improve teacher morale and motivation through support for creative classroom projects.