New York
About Us
Since our founding in 1990, Teach For America New York has played a leading role in NYC’s movement for educational equity. We have introduced close to 6,000 promising leaders to New York City schools. With incoming corps sizes ranging from 100 to 500+, TFA corps members have helped to meet critical needs for diverse talent in hard-to-staff areas—special education, STEM, and early childhood education—in low-income neighborhoods that have difficulty attracting and retaining qualified teachers.
Our corps members and alumni are among the group of bold leaders who have helped to change the prevailing ideology about what is possible for kids of color from low-income backgrounds. Their classrooms and schools serve as proof points, demonstrating that with high expectations, clear vision and goals, solid plans and strong execution, all students can achieve at high levels.
Today, Teach For America is striving to reach a bold goal: By 2030, twice as many children in communities where we work will reach key educational milestones indicating they are on a path to economic mobility and co-creating a future filled with possibility.
The work towards educational equity is more critical than ever. Will you join us?
Nearly
300
corps members are teaching in NYC.
Close to
75%
of our corps reflects the racial, economic, or hometown backgrounds of their students.
Almost
6K
TFA alums live and work in our region.
Nearly
300
corps members are teaching in NYC.
Close to
75%
of our corps reflects the racial, economic, or hometown backgrounds of their students.
Almost
6K
TFA alums live and work in our region.
Join Us
Our Programs
The Corps
The Corps
Our corps members are reflective and authentic anti-racist classroom leaders, who work in partnership with students and families to deliver rigorous and data-informed content and to create joyful, inclusive learning environments for all students. Together, we will seek to build more equitable education systems through bold leadership and deep understanding of self in relation to others.
Ignite Fellowship
Ignite Fellowship
Started in 2022, Ignite is a national tutoring corps designed to accelerate learning and foster belonging with students, leveraging research-based best practices for high-impact tutoring. Ignite builds on Teach For America’s over 30 years of experience recruiting, developing, and supporting talent and partnering with communities across the country to help students overcome the systemic barriers to an excellent education. The Ignite Fellowship brings exceptional, equity-minded leaders into classrooms virtually to add immediate value for students, while creating shifts towards the future of equitable learning.
Our Impact in New York
Our Impact in New York
New York City has made significant progress in education. Over the past decade, we have seen record-level high school graduation rates, as well as gains in college and career readiness among New York City students. New York City’s promise of universal pre-kindergarten has resulted in an increase in the number of 4-year-olds enrolled in pre-K from 20,000 in 2014 to more than 70,000 in 2017, setting future generations up with a strong foundation in their early education.
Teach For America New York’s almost 6,000 corps members and alumni are among the countless educators, activists, parents, and community leaders who have pushed to raise the bar for educational excellence in our city, and remain committed to supporting the work of making educational equity a reality in New York.
Schools to Learn From
About Schools to Learn From
About Schools to Learn From
A number of Teach For America New York partner schools have been selected for Teach For America's Schools to Learn From program for providing an excellent education to their students. These schools serve as "learning laboratories" on pedagogical best practices and vision for other educators across the nation. Past New York selected schools in the Schools to Learn From program include:
Mott Haven Academy Charter School - Bronx, NY
Mott Haven Academy Charter School - Bronx, NY
Mott Haven Academy Charter School empowers children in a supportive educational environment that addresses and reduces the barriers to academic success through integration of family support services with a rigorous, college-preparatory academic program. The school's graduates will be resilient, resourceful, independent scholars who have the skills necessary to reach their full potential and to build a better future.
School Leader: Jessica Nauiokas (D.C. Region '97)
Bronx Lighthouse Academy - Bronx, NY
Bronx Lighthouse Academy - Bronx, NY
Bronx Lighthouse College Prep Academy, now Pharos Academies, began with a promise to scholars and families in NYC School District 12 and the larger Bronx community to remove all barriers and stop at nothing until all scholars are prepared for college, career, and life. That promise continues to drive Bronx Lighthouse College Prep Academy today.
School Leader: Alix Duggins (Mississippi Delta '10)
KIPP Infinity Middle School - New York, NY
KIPP Infinity Middle School - New York, NY
KIPP Infinity Middle School strives to create a holistic and joyful educational experience through rigorous academics, meaningful character development, eye-opening extracurricular and outside opportunities, and deep, authentic relationships with every single little KIPPsters in the building.
School Leader: Allison Willis Holley (New York City '04)
Addressing NY Student Needs
TFA NY focuses its presence in low-income schools, hard-to-staff subjects, and neighborhoods where the need is greatest. We deliver data-driven, culturally responsive programming that provides corps members with the skills they need to understand community context and immediately impact student success. Together, they are meeting critical needs in NYC:
- Corps members teach in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, or Queens at one of more than 100 partner schools. Partner schools include a mix of district and charter schools, as well as community-based organizations.
- Close to 50% of corps members, including all pre-K teachers, are dual certified in special education. The number of students with disabilities in NYC is larger than the entire population of most school districts around the country.
- 35% of corps members teach science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
- 8% of corps members teach our youngest learners in the community-based organizations that make it possible for NYC to provide universal full day pre-K.
Department of Education's Showcase Schools
The Highbridge Green School
The Highbridge Green School
The Highbridge Green School is a community school that cares for each students’ academic, emotional, and physical well-being. By providing students with a strong academic foundation, relevant learning experiences, and a safe and loving environment, The Highbridge Green School will empower them to have and make successful choices in high school, college, careers, and beyond.
School Leader: Kyle Brillante (New York '07)
School of the Future
School of the Future
School of the Future is a small, innovative public sixth through twelfth grade school within District Two. We are located in the Gramercy Park neighborhood at Twenty-Second Street and Lexington Avenue. School of the Future is recognized for its academically rigorous environment with a student population of seven hundred ranging from sixth through twelfth grade and a staff of forty teachers. Both the staff and the student population of School of the Future reflect the diversity of New York City.
School Leader: Stacy Goldstein (Bay Area '97)
“I chose TFA NY because diversity is the most valuable aspect of culture to me and New York embodies that in its core. As a former student of the education system here, it is a personal duty of mine to support the students who are in the shoes that I once walked in.”
Local Leadership
Tia Morris
New York '98
Executive Director
Teach For America New York
Since starting her career here in NYC as a 1998 corps member, Tia has dedicated more than two decades to improving educational opportunities for young people. The former Executive Director for Teach For America New Jersey considers herself a warrior for social justice, and began leading the New York region in June 2020.
Run With Team Teach For America
Run With Team Teach For America
We are excited to announce that Teach For America has been named an official Charity Partner for the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon.
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Support Our Work
Your gifts help our effort to find, support, and develop a network of leaders to ensure all students in New York City have the opportunity to attend great neighborhood schools.