SKIP TO SITE NAVIGATION | SWITCH TO GRAPHICAL VERSION
Teach for America Announces $250,000 Grant From the Wachovia Foundation for California Expansion Grant Supports Teach For America's Continued Growth in Los Angeles and the Bay Area LOS ANGELES, CA.—The Wachovia Foundation announced today that it will invest $250,000 to support the expansion of Teach For America across Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. This year in California, a corps of 550 of the nation's most promising future leaders are directly impacting the lives of nearly 43,000 public school students in Los Angeles, Oakland, San Jose, Lynwood, East Palo Alto, West Contra Costa County and Gilroy. "At Wachovia, we believe that every child is entitled to a high-quality education," said Pete Jones, head of Wachovia's Western Banking Group. "We're proud to continue our longstanding support for Teach For America – an organization that has already made a difference in the lives of more than 2.5 million students nationwide – with a gift that will bring more Teach For America teachers into California schools." Teach For America corps members have been instrumental in spreading educational opportunity to students in California's low-income communities since the organization was founded in 1990. Over the next three years, both its Los Angeles and Bay Area sites are poised to grow in size and impact so that even more California public school students have access to an excellent education. By 2010, the organization expects to have 475 teachers in Los Angeles area public schools, and more than 300 corps members closing the academic achievement gap in the Bay Area. "Wachovia's investment will support Teach For America as we work to reach our 2010 goals and bring more and more excellent teachers to California," said Eric Scroggins, executive director of Teach For America-Bay Area. "We are thankful for their partnership and all that it will do for the children in our state." Wachovia Corporation is Teach For America's Founding National Corporate Partner and this year committed $6 million over three years to support the organization's expansion. With today's gift, Wachovia and its foundation have contributed nearly $4 million to Teach For America, and the organization has received an additional $4 million as the primary charitable beneficiary of the Wachovia Championship PGA TOUR event. In addition, Wachovia CEO Ken Thompson serves on the national Teach For America board, and Wachovia employees volunteer in Teach For America classrooms across the country. "When students in low-income communities are given the opportunities they deserve, they excel," said Brian Johnson, executive director of Teach For America – Los Angeles. "Wachovia understands this and is helping Teach For America grow so our corps members can provide more opportunities every day for California's students to achieve success." About Teach For America About Wachovia |
About Wachovia