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Two Alums Awarded the 2019 Echoing Green Fellowship

TFA alumni recognized for leading ventures that make a positive social impact on the world.

By Laura Zingg

June 11, 2019

Two Teach For America alumni were recently named among the awardees of the 2019 Echoing Green Fellowship. Over the past 30 years, the Echoing Green fellowship has been awarded to over 700 emerging leaders who are making an impact on education, economic development, racial and gender equity, the environment, and more.

The fellowship is awarded to early-career social entrepreneurs who have developed bold ideas for making a positive change in the world. Fellows receive seed-funding, leadership development, hands-on support, and networking opportunities during their fellowship and beyond.

Ateira Griffin (Baltimore ’11) and Raby Gueye (Phoenix ’16) join a cohort of 34 fellows recognized this year for leading social change in the U.S. and abroad. They are part of a growing network of over 25 TFA alums who have previously received this award in recognition to their contribution toward equity.

Ateira Griffin

Founder & CEO, BOND, Inc (Building Our Nation’s Daughters)

Ateira Griffin is the founder and CEO of BOND, a Baltimore-based organization that provides mentorship, education, and support for single mothers and daughters. The program helps to strengthen bonds between mothers and daughters through workshops, coaching sessions, and events tailored to address specific needs within single mother households.

Ateira was inspired to launch BOND in 2015 while serving as dean of students at the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, where she began teaching as a corps member. Many of her students would confide in her, sharing the challenges they were having at home. Raised by a single mother in Baltimore, Ateira could relate to what her 6th-to-12th-grade girls were going through.

Ateira told the Baltimore Sun that she’s seeing a multiplier effect as women from the BOND program are spreading wholeness and healing across their communities. “Families are the crux of our communities,” Ateira says. “If we can heal families, we can heal communities, and we can heal our city. That’s the goal.”

Ateira has focused her career on advocating for and empowering women of color. In addition to being an educator and social entrepreneur, she served on the Baltimore city council and led efforts to increase equitable access to voting in Maryland. She is also the co-founder and co-host of Point of Hue, a bi-weekly podcast on women of color who are challenging the status quo.

Raby Gueye

Founder & CEO, Teach For Senegal

Raby Gueye founded Teach For Senegal in 2019. Her vision is to provide children in her home country with access to an equitable and excellent education. Less than 50 percent of Senegalese children who enroll in primary school make it to secondary, and only 3 percent make it to college. Teach For Senegal aims to address the problem by recruiting and training young Senegalese leaders to teach in underserved communities throughout the country. The organization is in the early stages of development and working toward a partnership with Teach For All, a global network of leaders who are expanding educational opportunity in countries worldwide.

Raby immigrated to the United States from Senegal as a refugee when she was seven years old. She worked hard in school and became the translator for her family, navigating the language barrier between her parents, teachers, doctors, and others. Through these experiences, she saw how powerful education can be for unlocking doors in a new country.

Raby has since dedicated her career to making positive social change and empowering future generations through education.  As an undergraduate at Arizona State University, she volunteered with several organizations supporting refugees and English language learners. Raby is now laying the groundwork for Teach For Senegal while finishing her third year teaching elementary school in Phoenix, where she was placed as a 2016 Teach for America corps member. She has worked hard to make school feel like a second home for students from all backgrounds, prioritizing relationship building with her students and their families.

Raby shared in a recent interview with Voyage Phoenix that she hopes her venture will become part of a larger movement in Senegal. “In 5-10 years, I want to see communities in Senegal working towards equal opportunity for all children.”

Past Echoing Green Fellows From the TFA Network

Raby and Ateira join a growing cohort of past Echoing Green fellows from the TFA network, including Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp. Learn more about some of our past fellows and the ventures they launched.