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Aimee Worsley
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July 06, 2004
Wachovia Launches Five-year, $20 Million Program to Support Teachers and Increase Student Achievement
First 18 grant recipients announced; grant sizes range from $50,000 to $250,000.
Charlotte, N.C. - In keeping with its longstanding history of supporting education, Wachovia today announced a new grants program from the Wachovia Foundation. The Wachovia Teachers and Teaching Initiative seeks to increase student achievement in public schools by supporting teachers and the teaching profession in scalable and sustainable ways.
“Research demonstrates that the classroom teacher is the single most critical factor in increasing student achievement,” said Steve Bentley, director of community affairs at Wachovia. “We created the Wachovia Teachers and Teaching Initiative because we wanted to provide funding to organizations that enhance teacher recruitment, development, support and retention with the ultimate goal of increasing student achievement.” The first 18 recipients announced today are: |
| Area Cooperative Educational Services | CT | $183,000 | | Board of Control for the Southern Regional Education Board | GA, NC, SC | $250,000 | | Charlotte Advocates for Education | NC | $100,000 | | Council for Educational Change | FL | $195,000 | | The Education Fund | FL | $235,000 | | Fund for Public Schools – NYC Leadership Academy | NY | $250,000 | | Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education | GA | $140,000 | | Lorraine Monroe Leadership Institute | NY | $150,000 | | National Staff Development Council | FL, GA, NC, PA, VA | $150,000 | | New Leaders for New Schools | DC, NY | $240,000 | | The New Teacher Project | PA | $200,000 | | The North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching | NC | $230,000 | | Success for All Foundation | CT, FL, GA, NC, NY, NJ, PA, VA | $225,000 | | Teach For America | DC, FL, GA, MD, NC, NY, NJ, PA | $250,000 | | Teacher Support Network USA | NC | $150,000 | | Temple University’s College of Education | PA | $230,000 | | University of Delaware, Delaware Center for Teacher Education | DE | $56,300 | | University of Florida Lastinger Center for Learning | FL | $250,000 |
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Examples of programs and initiatives receiving funding in this first year include: - An initiative to develop a strategy for filling mid-year vacancies in high-needs subject areas, with a focus on incoming teachers coming from other careers. (Philadelphia)
- An initiative providing job shadowing and leadership coaching for urban high school principals. (Florida)
- A program for new teachers providing mentors, classroom observation, feedback sessions and training. (North Carolina)
- An English-as-a-Second-Language program providing professional development and certification for teachers. (Pennsylvania)
Over the next five years, the Foundation will make grants to organizations that: - Provide high-quality professional development opportunities and support for educators.
- Create world-class learning environments that are responsive to the needs of students from diverse backgrounds.
- Strengthen the infrastructure of the teaching profession through leadership and best practices by hiring and securing high-performing educators.
Organizations must have 501(c)(3) status and core programs to support public education in grades pre-kindergarten through high school to be eligible. They must also provide these programs or services in Wachovia’s markets. Grants are awarded for a one-year period. Organizations must meet key milestones -- agreed upon by both the grantee and the Wachovia Foundation -- during their year as grant recipients to be eligible to apply for another year of funding. Because Wachovia is dedicated to thoroughly measuring impact and outcomes under the program—and is committed to dedicating resources to accomplish this—applications are accepted by invitation only. Grantees are selected by a committee that uses a multi-step due diligence process to assess whether a proposed program will meet criteria designed to achieve the desired impact. The Wachovia Teachers and Teaching Initiative is the most recent manifestation of Wachovia’s strong commitment to education. Other examples of the company’s efforts include: - The Reading First program, which sends employees into thousands of classrooms each week to read aloud and donate books to classroom libraries.
- Wachovia’s unique, far-reaching partnership with Teach For America, the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit two years to teaching in urban and rural public schools. The partnership consists of financial and employee volunteer support. Teach For America has been the charitable beneficiary of proceeds from the Wachovia Championship PGA TOUR event for the past two years.
- Partnerships established by Wachovia employees with schools in their communities, where they provide ongoing employee involvement and other support.
More information on the Wachovia Teachers and Teaching Initiative is available at www.wachovia.com/teachers. Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) is one of the largest providers of financial services to retail, brokerage and corporate customers throughout the East Coast and the nation, with assets of $411.0 billion, market capitalization of $61.7 billion and stockholders' equity of $33.3 billion at March 31, 2004. Its four core businesses, the General Bank, Capital Management, Wealth Management, and the Corporate and Investment Bank, serve 12 million client relationships (including households and businesses), primarily in 11 East Coast states and Washington, D.C. Its full-service retail brokerage firm, Wachovia Securities, LLC, serves clients in 49 states. Global services are provided through 32 international offices. Online banking and brokerage products and services also are available through Wachovia.com.
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