Teach for America Impacts 1 in 3 Students in Our Community
“I grew up in New Orleans, went to a private school and have since been acutely aware of how, in almost every American city, there is a two-tiered education system: one for the poor and one for the well-off. That’s why I joined the board of Teach For America. In addition to creating a corps of young teachers, Teach For America has become, in its 17 years, a wellspring of leadership talent. Its alumni go on to become education entrepreneurs, administrators, and activists.”
-Walter Isaacson, President and CEO, The Aspen Institute, and Chair,
Teach For America National Board of Directors
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, an unprecedented opportunity arose to create a new public education system in New Orleans, and Teach For America committed to significantly scaling up its presence in the Crescent City and its neighboring parishes. Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools. They believe that in America today, educational inequity persists along socioeconomic and racial lines, and that these disparities are greater in our country than in almost any other industrialized nation.
As a long-standing organization in the community, (Greater New Orleans was one of the original placement sites for Teach For America in 1992 and has operated here ever since), Teach For America felt the urgent need to support the rebuilding of the education system from the ground up, as the community worked to fix an entrenched cycle of low expectations that created and maintained a wide achievement gap between low-income children and their wealthier peers.
In 2007 TFA brought in a corps of 125 teachers. The following year, after targeted recruitment efforts, they brought 250 teachers to the area, for a total corps of 350 teachers. This summer they brought in an additional 250 teachers, which means that for the 2009-10 school year, a total of 500 TFA teachers will be leading students to academic greatness across our region.
This growth is exciting for the community as their impact is both immediate and lasting. At their current scale, Teach For America is impacting 1 in 3 students in our community. In addition to achieving outstanding classroom results this past year, their alumni are also influential forces in the Greater New Orleans region. Their numbers include Sarah Usdin, Founder and CEO of New Schools for New Orleans; Melissa Sawyer, co-founder and Executive Director of the Youth Empowerment Project; Andrea Chen, Founder and CEO of SENO; Brian Bordainick, recently featured on the GNOF website for his work with the 9th Ward Field of Dreams project; and Rhonda Kalife-Aluise, who heads up KIPP’s work here in New Orleans. Their alumni numbers also include over 15 school leaders in our community, several teachers of the year, lawyers, physicians, professors, and businessmen and women who have made New Orleans their home. Kira Orange Jones, Executive Director of Teach For America-Greater New Orleans states, “With significantly increased numbers coming to New Orleans, the potential for further impact on our community is truly inspiring.”
For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org.
How can someone support Teach For America?
You can join us in our fight to end educational inequity by sponsoring a teacher (PDF). With a contribution of $5,000 or more to Sponsor A Teacher, Teach For America’s annual leadership giving campaign, you will help offset the annual cost to recruit, select, train, and support a corps member and experience Teach For America’s impact firsthand regular classroom updates from a teacher and their students. Click here to find out if your company has a matching gift policy and will match gifts made to Teach For America. For more information or to visit a classroom please contact Trish Kelly, Manager of Individual Giving, by email: Trish.Kelly@teachforamerica.org or by phone 724-980-9536. To make a secure online donation you can also visit our website, http://www.teachforamerica.org/donors/index.htm, and make sure to choose Greater New Orleans on the program bar.
