Partnership Helps Bring 125 Teachers to the Region’s Rural Communities
For Immediate Release
Contact: Becky O'Neill | Teach For America
becky.oneill@teachforamerica.org | 646.369.9374
Patricia Cabe | Golden Leaf Foundation
pcabe@goldenleaf.org | 252-442-7474
DURHAM, N.C., November 27, 2012—The Golden LEAF Foundation recently announced a $100,000 grant to support Teach For America’s efforts to expand educational opportunities in rural Eastern North Carolina. Teach For America recruits, trains, and develops top recent college graduates and professionals to teach in high-need public schools and become lifelong leaders in the pursuit of educational equity.
This gift enables Teach For America to support a greater number of teachers in rural Eastern North Carolina, providing them with professional development to pursue educational excellence in the communities they serve. Since coming to Eastern North Carolina in 1990, Teach For America corps members have reached more than 130,000 students in the region.
“For years, the partnership of Golden LEAF has helped bring committed, talented teachers to rural Eastern North Carolina,” said Robyn Fehrman, executive director of Teach For America in Eastern North Carolina. “We are grateful for the foundation’s unwavering commitment to our communities and excited about the positive impact our teachers will have in their classrooms across the region.”
This year, 214 Teach For America corps members are teaching in high-need classrooms across Eastern North Carolina, reaching more than 12,000 students. Over 500 alumni of the program now lead and support efforts to ensure educational equity in the region. This gift marks Golden LEAF’s eighth year of investment in Teach For America’s work in the region.
"Golden LEAF is committed to growing the economies of tobacco-dependent, economically distressed and rural communities," said Dan Gerlach, Golden LEAF president. "Our grant to Teach For America will help cultivate the talent, knowledge, and skill of our future workforce, part of the recipe of success for building these communities."
A growing body of research demonstrates the effectiveness of Teach For America corps members. Recent studies in North Carolina, as well as Louisiana and Tennessee, found that corps members have a positive impact on student achievement. The North Carolina study identifies Teach For America as the most effective source of early-career teachers in the state’s public schools, based on student achievement data.
About Teach For America
Teach For America works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty. Founded in 1990, Teach For America recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding individuals of all academic disciplines to commit two years to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the movement to end educational inequity. Today, more than 10,000 corps members are teaching in 46 urban and rural regions across the country, while nearly 28,000 alumni are working across sectors to ensure that all children have access to an excellent education. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
About Golden LEAF
The Golden LEAF Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1999 to help transform North Carolina’s economy. The foundation receives one-half of North Carolina’s funds from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers and places special emphasis on assisting tobacco-dependent, economically distressed and/or rural communities across the state. The Golden LEAF Foundation works in partnership with governmental entities, educational institutions, economic development organizations and nonprofits to achieve its mission. The foundation has awarded 1,133 grants totaling more than $498 million since its inception. For more information, or to learn more about applying for a grant, visit or call (888) 684-8404.
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