In early 2001, Lee Posey, Chairman of Palm Harbor Homes, read about a new single-sex public school in New York City, The Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem. Founded in 1996 by philanthropists Ann and Andrew Tisch in partnership with the New York City Board of Education, the school had achieved remarkable success, with 100% of its graduating classes accepted to four-year colleges and universities. Lee and Sally Posey contacted Ann Tisch and visited the school. They came back to Dallas inspired by both the school and Ann Tisch, by her vision, and her Young Women's Leadership Foundation.

In early 2002, the Lee and Sally Posey established the Foundation for the Education of Young Women and began the effort to get a similar school established in the Dallas Independent School District, with the intention of founding similar schools in other Texas cities. In May of 2002, they accompanied two senior Dallas administrators to New York to visit the Harlem school, and in November of that year several DISD board members and community leaders visited the school and met with Ms. Tisch and the Foundation. In August 2004, after thoughtful consideration by the District and the Board, the Foundation's first school, the Irma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School, opened its doors with the support of the Foundation for the Education of Young Women. Since then, the Foundation's second school, the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, opened in August 2007 in Austin. In August 2008, the Foundation opened two more schools, the San Antonio Young Women's Leadership Academy in San Antonio and the Margaret Talkington School for Young Women Leaders in Lubbock. In August 2010, the Foundation will open its fifth school in partnership with the Fort Worth Independent School District.

Mr. Posey passed away on February 29, 2008.