The Walton Family Foundation, long a big supporter of educational initiatives, is giving $49.5 million to Teach For America to help the organization expand its teaching corps and help train educators in seven regions, including the Mississippi Delta.
The three-year grant makes the Walton Family Foundation the largest private donor of Teach For America to date and seeks to double the number of corps members placed annually, to 15,000 by 2015.
The grant has a strong emphasis on the Delta region of Arkansas and Mississippi.
“With this critical investment, Teach For America will be able to develop more of our talented recent college graduates and professionals to become long-term champions of educational equity and excellence,” said Wendy Kopp, chief executive officer and founder of Teach For America.
A total of $24.47 million will go toward the training and professional development of more than 5,000 first- and second-year corps members in seven communities, six of which are in the foundation’s priority areas: Denver; Los Angeles; Milwaukee; Newark, N.J.; New Orleans; and Washington, D.C.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
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