New York, September 15, 2015—Teach For America and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the world’s oldest intercollegiate Greek-lettered fraternity founded by African American men, announced a formal partnership created to recruit more African American male leaders to the classroom. The partnership will highlight Teach For America as one opportunity for more Alpha Phi Alpha members to work in the nation’s highest-need communities and form a lasting commitment to pursuing educational equity.  

Teach For America works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty by recruiting and developing a diverse corps of outstanding college graduates and professionals to make an initial two-year commitment to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort to end educational inequity. Alpha Phi Alpha’s  mission includes leadership development, academic excellence, service, and advocacy—all areas that align with Teach For America’s core values and mission.

Last fall, for the first time in the nation’s history, students of color represented the majority of students in public school classrooms—but the teaching profession has yet to catch up. Just 2 percent of our nation’s teachers identify as African American males, compared with 16 percent of African American students. Though Teach For America has seen its most effective teachers come from all backgrounds, those who share their students’ backgrounds can also serve as powerful role models. The Teach For America–Alpha Phi Alpha partnership will help to attract more African American male teachers to the classroom, increasing the number of students of color whose teachers share their backgrounds and who can serve as vital role models.  

“Teach For America is proud to work alongside many partners in our efforts to attract remarkable diverse talent to the teaching field, as we believe great teachers come from all backgrounds. Members of Alpha Phi Alpha have demonstrated their commitment to leadership and civic engagement in the communities we work alongside,” said Teach For America CEO Elisa Villanueva Beard. “Accomplished men of color have incredible potential to make significant positive impact in high-need schools and to show students what’s possible in their own future.”

Teach For America continues to be one of the country’s largest providers of African American teachers: 20 percent of incoming corps members identify as African American, compared with nearly 7 percent of teachers nationwide; and 15 percent identify as Hispanic, compared with nearly 8 percent of teachers nationwide. Teach For America’s 2015 incoming corps is as accomplished as ever and among the most diverse in the organization’s history: nearly half of the nonprofit’s 4,100 incoming teachers identify as people of color, 47 percent come from low-income backgrounds, and 34 percent are the first in their family to graduate from college.

Through its African American Community Initiative and campaigns such as I Am My Brother and Teach With TFA, Teach For America is one source alongside others encouraging African American leaders to enter the field of education.

“Being a mission-focused organization, we see clear value in our partnership with Teach For America,” said Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity’s Executive Director and COO W. Douglass Lyle. “Alpha Phi Alpha develops a brotherhood of leaders who are committed to academic excellence and providing service and advocacy to our communities—a direct compliment to the mission of Teach For America.”

UNCF (United Negro College Fund) President and CEO Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D., is a long-time Teach For America trustee and Alpha Phi Alpha member. As leader of the nation’s largest and most effective higher education assistance organization for minorities, he looks forward to seeing this partnership in action.

“As a former educator, I can attest to the grave importance of students having teachers who look like them,” said Lomax, who previously taught at Morehouse College and Spelman College in Atlanta. “I am encouraged to see two organizations that are working to make a difference lock arms to ensure that more students of color will indeed have the chance to have more positive African American males as role models, leading and guiding them in classrooms.”

Among the more than 42,000 Teach For America alumni (those who have completed their two-year commitment), 84 percent continue to work in education or with low-income communities, serving as teachers, school leaders, school system leaders, advocates, and in additional professions that strengthen the movement to give all children access to a great education.