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Meg Whitman’s Foundation Invests $10 Million in Teach For America
Grant to Support Expansion of Teaching Corps Nationwide and Deepen its Impact in California
October 26, 2011 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Whitman-Harsh Family Foundation announced today that it is investing $10 million in the national nonprofit Teach For America. Half of the investment will support Teach For America’s work in high-need communities in California – including the organization’s efforts in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The other half will support Teach For America’s national effort to double the size of its teaching corps and foster its network of alumni leaders. The Foundation invests in programs and organizations that expand opportunity in education.
“Teach For America is increasing educational opportunity and the leadership pipeline in California and across the country”
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“This critical and generous investment from Meg Whitman through her family foundation will enable Teach For America to recruit, train, and support more of our nation’s future leaders to become champions of educational equity and excellence in California and nationwide,” said Wendy Kopp, chief executive officer and founder of Teach For America. “We are especially inspired by Meg’s deep commitment to expanding educational opportunity and tremendously grateful for her support and involvement as a board member, strategic advisor, and lead investor.”
The Whitman-Harsh Family Foundation’s investment of $5 million in Teach For America in California will broaden Teach For America’s presence in the Bay Area and Los Angeles to serve more high-need students. This year, approximately 700 corps members are reaching more than 50,000 students in the two regions. Teach For America is in the exploratory phase to bring up to 2,000 corps members to the state by 2015.
On a national level, The Whitman-Harsh Family Foundation will provide another $5 million to help double the number of Teach For America corps members placed annually, to 15,000, by 2015; to support training and professional development for corps members during their two-year commitment; and to catalyze the impact of Teach For America’s alumni nationwide. Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. Teach For America is building a strong pipeline of leaders in education, with two-thirds of its nearly 24,000 alumni working full-time in the field, including more than 550 alumni serving as school principals or school system leaders. In addition, many alumni are launching innovative efforts to expand educational opportunity.
“Teach For America is increasing educational opportunity and the leadership pipeline in California and across the country,” said Meg Whitman. “We established The Whitman-Harsh Family Foundation to provide resources to organizations that have a vision, act with passion, and deliver results. Teach For America corps members are having a significant impact on student achievement, and the organization’s alumni are a force for change in education nationwide.”
Teach For America alumni in California are playing important leadership roles as founders and directors of some of the state’s highest-performing public schools serving low-income communities. For example, Preston Smith (Bay Area Corps ‘01) is the cofounder and chief achievement officer of Rocketship Education, a leading charter school network based in San Jose that is dedicated to eliminating the achievement gap. Amber Young Medina (Los Angeles Corps ’01) is the principal of KIPP Raíces Academy elementary school, one of the highest-performing public schools in Los Angeles. Monica Thomas (Los Angeles Corps ’99) is the principal of Greenleaf Elementary School, a public school in Oakland, California that has shown dramatic improvement in student achievement during her five-year tenure.
The Whitman-Harsh Family Foundation’s investment is part of a larger commitment to advancing educational equity. Ms. Whitman joined the national board of Teach For America in February.
About The Whitman-Harsh Family Foundation
The Whitman-Harsh Family Foundation, established by HP CEO Meg Whitman and her husband, Dr. Griffith Harsh, works with partners in the community at the local, state, and national level with a primary focus on K-12 education efforts. With $100 million in assets, the Foundation supports a variety of educational programs and causes that serve as lighthouse models for the future of public education. The Foundation’s funding priorities reflect the deeply held belief that every child has the right to a quality public education and that fighting to ensure that opportunity is the civil rights issue of this generation.
About Teach For America
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 and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. Today more than 9,000 corps members are teaching in 43 regions across the country while nearly 24,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org.
Contacts
Teach For America
Masharika Maddison, 917-836-7365
Masharika.Maddison@teachforamerica.org |