In our region, even today, a child’s skin color and ZIP code still predicts his or her future. African American students in the rural part of the state are much less likely to graduate from college than their peers in nearby middle-class communities. In Halifax County, only about 30% of third through eighth graders are scoring proficient in reading and math, compared to about 90% of students in Chapel Hill.  

Motivated to right this injustice, Teach For America corps members work diligently to close this achievement gap. Principals, superintendents, and state education leaders continue to seek additional Teach For America corps members for Eastern North Carolina because of our proven ability to provide students in rural communities here with an excellent education.

The evidence shows that we can achieve exceptional outcomes for kids in Eastern North Carolina and send students to college at a much higher rate than we are right now. Our 160 corps members work in over 50 schools across 10 school districts and 3 charter schools to do just that. Together these teachers reach more than 7,000 students per year in the city of Durham and in rural towns in the northern part of the state.