NGO Funding Request
The recipient entity's full legal name:
Teach For America, INC.
The recipient entity's physical address:
Teach For America: 25 Broadway, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10004
The recipient entity's mailing address (if different):
Teach For America: 25 Broadway, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10004
Teach For America – South Louisiana: 501 Government Street, Ste. 100, Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Teach For America – Greater New Orleans: 865 Fulton Street, Ste. 400, New Orleans, LA 70130
Type of Entity (for instance, a nonprofit corporation):
Non-Profit Corporation
If the entity is a corporation, list the names of the incorporators:
- David Kenny (Chair)
- Susan Mccaw
- Pamela L. Carter
- Bill Haslam
- Kaya Henderson
- Kevin Huffman (Treasurer)
- David Kenny
- Dr. Michael L. Lomax
- Steve Mandel
- Ken Mehlman
- Dan Porterfield
- Linnea Conrad Roberts
- Lindy Schumacher
- Miguel Solis
- Olivia Walton
The last four digits of the entity's taxpayer ID number:
1913
What is the dollar amount of the request?
$3,000,000
What type of request is this?
General Appropriation
Is this entity in good standing with the Secretary of State?
Yes
Provide the name of each member of the recipient entity's governing board and officers:
- Current Louisiana Executive Directors:
Laura Vinsant, Executive Director Teach For America - South Louisiana
501 Government Street, Ste. 100, Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Ge’ron Tatum, Executive Director Teach For America - Greater New Orleans
865 Fulton Street, Ste. 400, New Orleans, LA 70130
- Board of Directors, CEO and Officers can be contacted at:
Teach For America, Inc.
25 Broadway, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10004
- Governing Board:
o David Kenny (Chair)
o Susan Mccaw
o Pamela L. Carter
o Bill Haslam
o Kaya Henderson
o Kevin Huffman (Treasurer)
o David Kenny
o Dr. Michael L. Lomax
o Steve Mandel
o Ken Mehlman
o Dan Porterfield
o Linnea Conrad Roberts
o Lindy Schumacher
o Miguel Solis (Vice Chair)
o Olivia Walton
- Officers of the entity:
o Elisa Villanueva-Beard, Chief Executive Officer
o Adam Stanley, Chief Experience Officer
o Dr. Barbra Logan Smith, Chief of Equity & Belonging
o Jemina Bernard, Executive Vice President, Chief Community Impact & Operations
o Joshua Griggs, Executive Vice President, Talent, Operations and CFO
o Nafeesha Mitchell, Senior Vice President, Chief of Staff to the CEO
o Steve Majors, Executive Vice President, Chief External Affairs Officer
o Tracy-Elizabeth Clay, Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Chief Risk/Compliance Officer
o Crystal Rountree, Chief Development & Revenue Officer
o Noemi Wierwille, Chief Learning Officer
Provide a summary of the project or program:
At Teach For America (TFA), our first promise is to kids by providing the equitable and excellent education that they want and deserve. We are the premier source of new teachers for historically marginalized communities and education leaders working from all angles of the system to expand opportunities for students and reimagine the future of education. Since 1990, Teach For America has worked to bring new teachers to Louisiana and grow those teachers into education leaders, champions of their students’ academic and personal growth, and advocates for educational equity. Through their time in the classroom, TFA corps members make an initial two-year commitment to teach, while developing a deep appreciation of their students' potential and an in-depth view of the systemic obstacles that hinder student success. Many barriers exist that prevent our state and country from achieving educational equity. Teach For America’s goal is to recruit high-quality teachers to classrooms, deliver coaching and professional development to help teachers lead their students toward academic and personal growth, and provide leadership opportunities to help educators advocate and create systemic change and expand opportunities for students.
Teach For America alumni pursue a myriad of career paths that positively impact students and low-income communities. Today, Teach For America is a national network of 66,000+ leaders whose experience in the classroom sparked a lifelong commitment to expanding opportunities for kids. Our alumni are well-positioned for impact because of their diverse backgrounds and perspectives and the lessons learned from their years in the classroom. Teach For America in Louisiana includes a network of 430 teachers, 170+ school systems leaders, principals, and school support staff, and 2 school board members. Altogether, 70% of alumni work across sectors toward profound, enduring change in education. Over the past 32 years, TFA has grown in its commitment to ensuring that students have access to great teachers with a variety of perspectives and experiences – including individuals with similar backgrounds as our students. Fifty-three percent of TFA teachers in Louisiana share the backgrounds of the students they serve, identifying as Black, Indigenous, or people of color and/or as having come from a low-income background.
Teach For America’s core program includes:
¿ Recruiting college graduates, graduate students, and professionals who have demonstrated great potential to become transformational teachers for students from historically underserved or marginalized communities.
¿ Facilitating matches between corps members and the schools where they can have their greatest impact.
-Providing in-field teacher preparation through intensive pre-service training from May through the first days of school.
-Providing training and leadership development through corps programming, specialized cohorts of educators, and individual coaching throughout the year.
-Increasing the capacity of our alumni base through recruitment pipelines and programming that facilitates mentorship, community-building, and career development.
-Expand the Ignite tutoring model to support reading growth for first- to third-grade students.
What is the budget relative to the project for which funding is requested?:
Salaries. . . . . . . . . . . . .
$0
Professional Services. . .
$3,000,000
Contracts . . . . . . . . . . .
$0
Acquisitions . . . . . . . . .
$0
Major Repairs . . . . . . .
$0
Operating Services. . . .
$0
Other Charges. . . . . . .
$0
Does your organization have any outstanding audit issues or findings?
No
If 'Yes' is your organization working with the appropriate governmental agencies to resolve those issues or findings?
Yes
What is the entity's public purpose, sought to be achieved through the use of state monies?
Teach For America (TFA) recruits, selects, trains, and professionally develops outstanding and diverse leaders who have demonstrated evidence of the values and leadership necessary to expand opportunity and access for all children inside and outside the classroom. TFA supports our educators to advance students' academic and personal growth and helps strengthen low-income schools and districts through the leadership of our network. Our organization is the only national talent provider in the education sector that is uniquely positioned to complete the following components: capacity and expertise to annually recruit, train and support diverse educators (called “corps members”) to teach in low-income schools; a required commitment for corps members to teach for at least two years; a proven track record of providing teachers who exceed expected impact in their classrooms and meet or exceed the expectations of school leaders; and the ability to cultivate excellent leaders committed to transforming our country’s education system for the benefit of our students.
Since 1990, TFA has recruited 66,000 truly exceptional leaders to serve in the education sector and galvanized them for a lifetime of impact. Corps members reach almost 250,000 students annually in over 1,500 high-need public schools across 300 communities. Fueled by their experiences in the classroom, TFA alumni become lifelong leaders in their communities, with over 1,300 school leaders, 950+ school systems leaders, 100 school board members, and thousands more who work across sectors toward profound, enduring change.
In Louisiana, we currently place first- and second-year teachers working in K-12 public schools in Ascension, Orleans, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Jefferson, and Pointe Coupee Parishes. We prioritize partnerships with schools where at least 80% of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch. As one of the most diverse sources of new teachers across the country, 48% of TFA corps members identify as people of color and 59% identify as coming from a low-income background. Through research, we know educators who reflect the identities of their students positively impact them, especially students of color. This is important to high-need school districts like Orleans Parish where over 92% of students identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color.
Corps members also play a vital role in filling high-need STEM and special education teaching positions. Currently, 55% of the corps is teaching a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subject, and 11% serve as special educators. In 2022, 92% of principals in Louisiana partner schools reported satisfaction with the performance of our corps members at their school, 94% said they demonstrated high content knowledge, and 98% agreed they were effective at delivering instruction.
TFA’s ongoing program in Louisiana is entirely contingent upon our ability to raise funds to support our operations. Given the unique combination of values, services, and results that TFA provides in Louisiana, the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) or appropriations may request up to $3,000,000 in public funding for Teach For America.
Last year, we leveraged an appropriation and LDOE state funds of $800,000 by a magnitude of more than seven to one by raising over $5 million in funds for our operations in Louisiana. The ratio of privately raised dollars to publicly raised dollars (including funding from the state, the federal government, school districts, and charter management organizations) was approximately three to one. Private funds for TFA are disproportionately tied to our urban placements, specifically the Orleans Parish school district. TFA depends upon public funds to be able to place in high-needs districts across Louisiana, including rural districts. An increase in state funding allows us to continue this work and attract sustained private donations in the years to come.
What are the goals and objectives for achieving such purpose?
Our education system is in crisis. New teacher recruitment is low, existing teachers are dissatisfied and considering leaving the profession, and student well-being and achievement have suffered dramatically. Studies show that the pandemic, social and political unrest, and weather disruptions have disproportionately decreased education outcomes for all students, with students in low-income communities falling further behind academically.
To create the lasting change necessary to overcome these challenges, we must take a long view to create systems that work for all students and schools. To do so, Teach For America has committed to a bold goal: By 2030, twice as many children in communities where we work will reach key educational milestones, indicating they are on a path to economic mobility and a future filled with possibility.
Achieving this will require our network to work alongside students and community members to reimagine how we expand opportunities for all students. It represents a promise that outlasts a single school year and extends to far more children than those in the classrooms of our corps members and alumni. To pursue a truly systems-wide approach to change, we will use a portfolio of research-backed educational milestones that predict whether a child is on track to succeed. These milestones include proficiency in third-grade reading, fourth and eighth-grade math, and college and career readiness indicators. We will also set relevant measures of success and adopt well-being learning metrics as the research base advances.
In Louisiana, TFA commits to these strategies in support of our 2030 goal: -Recruit and place a diverse corps of educators in high-need public schools serving low-income populations in Southern Louisiana. ,-Track student achievement metrics for TFA corps members and alumni teachers through an anonymous data-sharing agreement with the LDOE.
-Louisiana classrooms with teachers who, on aggregate, achieve higher than average student achievement results by providing training, resources, connections, and opportunities for development.
-Strengthen the broader teaching ecosystem by expanding teacher support to non-TFA educators across the state.
-Continue expanding the Ignite tutoring model to support reading growth for first- to third-grade students.
Examples of these programs include:
Teach For America supports teacher effectiveness and retention for both TFA alumni and non-alumni teachers through targeted programs like our Talent Matching Pilot in Greater New Orleans (GNO). This program has successfully matched hundreds of teachers to vacancies across the region by helping them navigate a complex hiring landscape and providing schools with an all-access, personalized hiring process. The TFA GNO Coaching Fellowship also offers leadership development and training for teachers to serve as coaches for novice teachers at their schools, who also benefit from additional training and support from their coaches. The School Team Acceleration Project pilot offers training and development for all teachers at participating rural and urban schools in order to support students who are not academically performing on grade level.
Also, TFA launched a national high-impact tutoring program called Ignite Fellowship. This program drives toward our 2030 goal by enabling college students to have a direct and immediate impact through customized rigorous content offered in small group learning opportunities focused on accelerating students’ reading proficiency and fostering belonging for students in grades first through third-grade. TFA Launched this program in 2021 and is looking to continue expanding this program in Louisiana, given its proven results for students in over 46 school communities across the country. In Louisiana, we have expanded from 50 Ignite Fellow Tutors to 100 during 2022-23 school year in East Feliciana and Pointe Coupee Parishes, and will continue expanding to support more students.
What is the proposed length of time estimated by the entity to accomplish the purpose?
Twelve months: June 2023 through May 2024
If any elected or appointed state official or an immediate family member of such an official is an officer, director, trustee, or employee of the recipient entity who receives compensation or holds any ownership interest therein:
(a) If an elected or appointed state official, the name and address of the official and the office held by such person:
(b) If an immediate family member of an elected or appointed state official, the name and address of such person; the name, address, and office of the official to whom the person is related; and the nature of the relationship:
(c) The percentage of the official's or immediate family member's ownership interest in the recipient entity, if any:
(d) The position, if any, held by the official or immediate family member in the recipient entity:
If the recipient entity has a contract with any elected or appointed state official or an immediate family member of such an official or with the state or any political subdivision of the state:
(a) If the contract is with an elected or appointed state official, provide the name and address of the official and the office held by such person:
Kira Orange-Jones
Teach For America
Senior Vice President, Regional Field Executive
865 Fulton Street, Ste. 400
New Orleans, LA 70130
Kira is an elected member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and has cleared her continued role with Teach For America through the Louisiana Board of Ethics, and abstains from Teach For America votes.
(b) If the contract is with an immediate family member of an elected or appointed state official:
Provide the name and address of such person:
Provide the name, address, and office of the official to whom the person is related:
What is the nature of the relationship?
(c) If the contract is with the state or a political subdivision of the state, provide the name and address of the state entity or political subdivision of the state:
-Louisiana Department of Education, 1203 N. 3rd Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802
-Louisiana Department of Administration, 1201 N 3rd St # 7-210, Baton Rouge, LA 70802
(d) The nature of the contract, including a description of the goods or services provided or to be provided pursuant to the contract:
Teach For America has in past received funding by contract through the Louisiana state budget from the Louisiana Department of Education. The LDOE via State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley is the primary requester, but historically our grant has been managed through the Division of Teaching and Learning (within LDOE) under the leadership of Dr. Jenna Chiasson. In 2022-23 school year, Louisiana state budget funds via appropriation are being administered to TFA via the Louisiana Department of Administration.
Teach For America will recruit, place, train and support a corps of diverse first and second-year educators in high-need public schools serving low-income populations in Southern Louisiana. Teach For America will also place Ignite fellows in four schools that run the high-impact tutoring program for over 300 students in Louisiana.
Contact Information
name:
Marie Mullen
address:
501 Government Street, Ste. 100, Baton Rouge, LA 70802
phone:
225-381-8163
fax:
225-612-6906
e-mail:
marie.mullen@teachforamerica.org
relationship to entity:
Employee