Despite the progress we have made, educational inequity remains our nation's greatest injustice.  While Teach For America corps members and alumni in education continue to work relentlessly to close the achievement gap for their students, realizing our vision of educational equity also requires innovative solutions from social entrepreneurs.  Social entrepreneurs design and implement solutions that address root causes of social challenges. They recognize a need that is not being met by an established system, have the vision to develop innovative responses to the need, and use their leadership skills to turn their vision into a successful venture for social change.

Teach For America has a history of alumni social entrepreneurs who were motivated by their corps experience. They have pioneered trendsetting alternative school models, created new leadership cohorts, and merged business and social goals through hybrid ventures, all while challenging the status quo and forcing competitors to follow suit.

Teach For America created the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative to help more alumni translate their passion into concrete action by launching innovative social ventures. We work to help emerging social entrepreneurs transform their ideas into a sustainable career by creating forums to engage in meaningful idea generation and problem-solving, utilizing external partners to provide basic business management skills, and helping entrepreneurs learn how to tap into and leverage a professional network.

Resources

• Apply to Fellowships and Competitions: Alumni can use SEI tools to draft competitive applications for social entrepreneurship fellowships like Echoing Green and Mind Trust. Alumni can receive feedback on application materials, engage in mock interviews and perfect their pitch.
• Access and Apply for Funding: Alumni can learn to draft strong grant proposals and business plans, get fundraising strategies, connect to SEI partners and other funding opportunities and pitch to donors.
• Get Operational Support: Using toolkits and webinars, alumni can learn social venture management skills such as fundraising, business and financial management, legal and personnel systems, and other knowledge areas.  Alumni can also find SEI partner-vendors that offer pro bono or low-cost services to nonprofits.
• Connect with Advisors: Connections with successful social entrepreneurs and senior nonprofit and corporate sector professionals help alumni receive individualized guidance as well as pro bono consulting help on their venture.
• Social Entrepreneurship E-newsletter: Alumni can have news of alumni entrepreneurs, jobs, and resources like virtual information sessions delivered to their inbox each month.

Alumni Social Entrepreneurs

Chris Barbic

• Houston '92
• YES Prep Public Schools
• Leveraged external expertise to gain managerial, financial, and operational skills to launch YES Prep, a free, open-enrollment public school system serving low-income students in grades 6-12
• Today, YES Prep has five campuses in Houston, serving 2,800 students, 86 percent of whom will be the first in their families to go to college

Nick Ehrmann

• D.C. Region '00
• Blue Engine
• In the midst of launching Blue Engine, a national tutoring corps that prepares high school students of all academic backgrounds to succeed in advanced coursework
• In summer 2009, became a grantee of the Blue Ridge Foundation New York, a full-service nonprofit incubator and a Social Entrepreneurship Initiative partner

Anthony Jewitt

• New York '03
• Bardoli Global Inc.
• Encouraged by feedback on his idea and more confident in his skill set developed as a corps member, started Bardoli Global Inc., a program that aims to empower students of color to participate in study abroad and international exchange experiences
• In 2006, received the prestigious Echoing Green Fellowship; since its inception, Bardoli Global has sent over 130 students of color to over 25 countries

Alex Shalson

• Los Angeles '95
• Red Schoolhouse Software
• Starting as a pet project, conceived and designed a suite of easy to use, web-based tool for teachers to capture and analyze assessment results
• Today, Red Schoolhouse Software data management software is used by multiple states throughout the country, including 110 school districts in California alone

Contact Us

If you would like to learn more about the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative and how we might be able to partner with your organization, contact socialentrepreneurship@teachforamerica.org.