Los Angeles
Teach For America Los Angeles finds, develops, and supports leaders who expand opportunity for all children as teachers and lifelong advocates for educational excellence. Together, we work to unleash the potential of our community's greatest assets: our students.
About Us
Los Angeles is home to more than 10 million people. Its public education system is one of the region’s most critical services; its schools are places of academic achievement, social and emotional growth, nourishment, and joy for more than one million students.
During the 2024-2025 school year, 235 corps members touched the lives of 16,500 students in 91 traditional public and public charter schools in South, East, Central, and North LA, including Los Angeles, Inglewood, and Lynwood Unified School Districts.
No story about Teach For America is complete without Los Angeles. We are one of the first five Teach For America sites, founded in 1990. We support the third-largest alumni network with over 4,000 TFA alumni living in Los Angeles.
Teach For America Los Angeles is:
Teach For America Los Angeles is:
- The county’s largest source of educators serving schools in low-income and historically excluded communities.
- One of the county’s largest sources of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Special Education (SPED) educators.
Our Alumni Network
With over 4,000 alumni in Los Angeles, we have one of the largest alumni networks in the country. Our community of teachers, school and systems leaders, social entrepreneurs, CEOs, organizers, and public officials make big waves and continue to create lasting change for students and their communities.
Living & Teaching in Los Angeles
Los Angeles County is home to approximately 10 million people spread out across 4,060 square miles of palm trees, mountains, beaches, and sunshine. Our corps members are spread throughout the region and teach in several school districts, including Los Angeles and Inglewood Unified School Districts, as well as many charter management organizations serving the region’s highest-need students. While our teachers span the breadth of the city from Pacoima to Carson, the majority of our corps members work in our focus communities in South and Southeast LA.
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Your support helps us create a future in which all children in Los Angeles can learn, lead, and thrive.
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The Los Angeles Team
Lida Jennings
Executive Director
Teach For America Southern California Regions: Los Angeles and San Diego
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Your Loved One is Joining to Teach For America
You might have questions about your loved one joining our teacher corps program. Here are the commonly asked questions new corps members hear most from their friends and family.
Teach For America is a selective, two-year teaching and leadership development program that places college graduates and professionals in under-resourced schools across America. As teachers, they will work alongside communities to expand educational opportunity while developing the skills, mindsets, and networks to drive systemic change throughout their careers.
A corps member is what we call our teachers during their first two years of our program. During those two years, they will be a classroom teacher.
A TFA corps member works as a full-time, salaried teacher in a public school classroom. They are responsible for planning lessons, delivering instruction, and supporting their students' academic and personal growth while working collaboratively with school staff, families, and community members.
Beyond teaching, a corps member participates in TFA's comprehensive leadership development program—consisting of ongoing coaching, professional development sessions, and collaboration with a cohort of peer educators.
As full-time employees of their schools, corps members participate in the professional development, mentorship, and management practices available to all other educators in their placement school. In addition, Teach For America prepares corps member for their first day of school by providing:
Summer training includes:
- Virtual and live learning experiences rooted in Teach For America foundations that will prepare them for the school year.
- The opportunity to teach summer school in the same community they'll teach in during the school year.
- One-on-one and group coaching experiences
Ongoing support and development including:
- Equity-driven teaching and learning summits four times per year
- Instructional coaching services
- Online resources and trainings
- Other supports such as local alumni networks, placement school resources, university partnerships, identity-based resource groups, and more
Students taught by Teach For America teachers are learning and achieving at the same or even better rates than students taught by non-Teach For America teachers in the same schools. Several evaluation studies, including randomized controlled trials, have found these results. The research also shows that Teach For America’s impact extends to other areas that are crucial to achieving educational equity, including diversifying our educator workforce and deepening educators’ understanding of systemic injustice. Explore Teach For America’s impact on students.
In a survey of principals who work with TFA corps members, 98% reported satisfaction with corps members.
Yes, corps members make a commitment to teach for a minimum of two years. Many choose to stay longer. Our commitment to our corps member extends beyond their first two years in the classroom. Whether they choose to stay in education or seek new opportunities in other industries, we provide support for their growth and development.
The Teach For America application process includes an online application designed to gather all the candidate's qualifications. Applicants who make it to the next round will be asked to schedule a virtual interview.
The online application consists of:
- Basic personal information
- Reflections on applicant’s interest in joining TFA and their leadership experience
- Required documents—resume and school history
The virtual interview consists of:
- Delivering a 5-minute sample teaching lesson
- Sharing the case study on racial disparities
- Answering questions about their experiences and attributes
We recruit exceptional, diverse, and action-oriented leaders early in their careers. These leaders demonstrate the values, mindsets, and experiences necessary to have an outsized, positive impact on student learning and personal growth. Fewer than a quarter of applicants are admitted to Teach For America.
Our teachers are employed and paid by the district or public charter network where they teach and receive the same salary and benefits as other first-year teachers. We place teachers in nearly 40 regions across the country. Depending on the region, first-year TFA teachers make between $33,000 - $68,000 per school year. Teach For America offers additional financial support with a value of approximately $14,000-$30,000 over two years, depending on region and eligibility. Explore TFA salaries by region.
Benefits from the district or public charter network include health insurance, retirement, and vacation benefits.
Yes. In addition to the salary earned from a Teach For America partner school, TFA offers additional financial support for corps members with a value of $14,000-$30,000 over two years, based on region and eligibility.
Transitional Support Stipends
- Baseline Regional Stipends are designed to help corps members cover two months of housing along with initial test registration costs. The Baseline Regional Stipend ranges in amount depending on region
- All Pell Grant recipients and EAD holders also qualify for an additional Pell/EAD Stipend of $3,000 on top of their Baseline Regional Stipend, regardless of region.
Need-Based Support
- Incoming corps members with additional financial need may apply for Need-Based Transitional Support to supplement their Transitional Support Stipends. These packages of grants and no-interest loans are based on demonstrated need, regional cost of living, and Transitional Support Stipend amount. All need-based applicants will be offered an interest-free loan; applicants with the highest need may also be offered a grant. Incoming corps members can apply through the applicant center. Get an overview of need-based support.
AmeriCorps Award
- Corps members who join AmeriCorps may be eligible for additional funding to help pay off student loans or put toward certification costs. The AmeriCorps award is distributed after each year of membership. The current AmeriCorps award is $7,395. Read more about TFA’s partnership with AmeriCorps.
Supplemental Supports
- Individual regions may also have additional supports such as affordable housing partnerships, or districts with signing bonuses.
New corps members have the option to apply directly to up to three (out of nearly 40) regions where they want to teach or to indicate they would go to the area of greatest need. They will only be placed in a region they have selected.
Whether or not that means they are moving away or staying where they currently are, we provide them with Transitional Support Stipends.
After their two-year commitment, corps members join a powerful network of 65,000+ alumni who pursue diverse career paths—school leadership, nonprofit, policy, business, and other sectors. As they continue to work toward educational equity in their chosen fields, we help connect them with opportunities and resources to grow professionally.
TFA provides ongoing career support through our career center, offering resources, job connections, mentorship, and talent matching services to help alumni transition professionally. Some of those benefits include:
- Partnerships with graduate schools and employers around the country, including deferrals, scholarships, fee waivers, internships, and more
- A career and networking website, exclusively available for members of our network, which includes a robust job board and the opportunity to connect directly with hiring managers
- Skill-building and fellowship opportunities intended to accelerate impact in school leadership, social entrepreneurship, elected leadership, and more
- Membership in Leadership for Educational Equity, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that inspires and supports leaders with classroom experience to engage civically and politically
- A diverse and supportive network of alumni and staff, all working together in pursuit of educational equity
Teacher burnout and mental health is a very real challenge in this profession. As an organization, we are committed to the wellness of our teachers and to helping make teaching a more sustainable career.
In our work with corps members, we use the 8 Dimensions of Wellness which highlight the multi-faceted and interdependent nature of wellness and include emotional, financial, social, spiritual, occupational, physical, intellectual, and environmental wellness. Some examples include:
- Financial supports, including additional needs-based and emergency supports, to help new corps members make the transition to the classroom
- Intentional experiences in peer cohorts to help corps members feel connected and part of a thriving, supportive community of peers and mentors.
- Training our teachers to create an environment for positive social emotional learning for their students while balancing their own needs (which helps them be a better support to their students)
- Regions may have additional ways that they are supporting their teacher’s mental health, including regional mental health and wellness guides
- AmeriCorps members have access to mental health services through the AmeriCorps Member Assistance Program
Finally, our child-centered public policy agenda as an organization is derived from what we learn from our educators is most essential. Student and teacher wellness is at the top of that list right now.
Education is the most powerful and transformational lever we have to transform our society. Joining TFA gives corps members the opportunity to make both an immediate impact on individual children’s lives and be part of a movement for social justice more broadly. Our alumni also find the experience deeply develops them as leaders, accelerates their careers, and connects them to a driven, diverse, and equity-focused network leaders.
Darren Clarke
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Laurie Morgan
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Connecticut
In less than a decade we've helped bring about significant changes for our students and communities, despite deep levels of income disparities in the state.
About Us
Our program is centered around our vibrant urban centers in Connecticut: Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport. Our City Teams foster partnerships with leaders and organizations in their cities to build coalitions. They are working in partnership with students, families, educators, and community leaders to develop a contextualized vision for student success. The result? Deeper relationships, community centered, stronger networks, and greater impact.
Our network extends beyond city limits as more than 800 alumni are contributing to long-term leadership in classrooms, in school and district leadership, in nonprofits, civic leadership, and across sectors to influence positive progress toward our state’s promise an excellent education for all kids.
A growing number of examples prove that when students’ needs are supported, when they are held to high expectations, and when their leadership is recognized, all students have the potential to succeed. Alongside our school communities and in partnership with champions across the state, we are working to ensure that these examples are no longer the exception, but the rule.
Where We Work
New Haven
New Haven
Corps members living in New Haven think of their new home as a small city with big city offerings, and enjoy its multifaceted culture, affordable housing options, and proximity to the schools in which they teach. A vibrant city, New Haven hosts numerous unique events throughout the year, from festivals on the Green to exhibits at the many local museums to a variety of Yale-related activities. New Haven's eclectic food scene is equally exciting, with delicious options ranging from Turkish to Indian to, of course, some of the best pizza you may ever eat.
Bridgeport
Bridgeport
Bridgeport is officially nicknamed "Park City," due to its 35 public parks, taking up 1,300 acres, including two large ones. The city is rich in culture and is home to 3 museums, the University of Bridgeport and Housatonic Community College. Bridgeport has a variety of beaches and parks, including Seaside, one of the finest in the state. The city boasts an array of music, cuisine options, infrastructure, and a beautiful coastline. Bridgeport has direct access to Long Island via the Port Jefferson Ferry and is just over one hour from New York City via Metro-North rail.
Hartford
Hartford
Hartford is Connecticut’s state capital and is referred to as the “Insurance Capital of the World.” Founded in 1635, the city is home to the second oldest secondary school in the United States, Hartford Public High School. It is well known for first-rate attractions such as the Wadsworth Atheneum, Bushnell Park, and the Mark Twain House. Hartford is home to the minor league baseball team, the Hartford Yard Goats. It is home to the University of Hartford, Trinity College, and UConn Hartford. A historical city, the colonial witch hunt began in Hartford in 1647.
Living Here
Connecticut might be only 170 miles long, but it's packed with charming towns, scenic country roads, and vibrant urban centers. Whether it's enjoying the dynamic food and culture in our capitol city of Hartford, some of the best pizza in the country in New Haven, or spending summer days along the shoreline you will always find plenty of activities. In fact, your students and their families will give you the best highlights of all. From the best soul food and Caribbean food in Bridgeport to the International Festival of Arts and Ideas on the New Haven Green near Yale University, or the incredible farm-to-table coffee spots in Hartford, you'll discover all the gems within our urban centers. Connecticut is also full of lakes, hiking trails, vineyards, beaches, and year-round activities. A quick hike along the Appalachian Trail or a weekend of paddle-boarding is only a short walk or drive away. No matter where you reside, you’ll be part of a tight-knit, welcoming, and adventurous community.
“TFA has had an incredible impact on my life. It showed me that I have a role to play in making changes in the education system. I continue to teach because I believe in my students and love my city for all its history, flaws, beauty, and people. Change is rooted in communities. As educators, we will play a lot of roles in students’ lives, including helping students find their voice and be ready to function in the world, and in their families.”
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