Teach For America seeking $4M+ to begin local operation
Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - by Chris Newmarker Staff Writer
They’ve had a Minneapolis office since 2005. Their national president lives and works in the area. But Teach For America doesn’t have corps members in Twin Cities schools — yet.
The New York-based nonprofit recruits recent college graduates and professionals who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools at locations across the United States. Now, it’s looking to launch in the Twin Cities, with the help of education officials and area foundations.
To start a Twin Cities operation, Teach For America needs more than $4 million, schools willing to accept corps members and a university willing to train them.
So far, it has received $50,000 apiece from two local foundations: the Medtronic Foundation and The McKnight Foundation, said Matt Kramer, Teach For America’s president.
Some of the money has gone toward hiring Daniel Sellers as a local executive director to get Teach For America up and running. A Twin Cities native, he recently finished a stint teaching for the organization in rural North Carolina.
Fundraising is just starting, Kramer said. On other fronts, Minneapolis Public Schools have agreed to accept about 10 to 15 teachers. There are negotiations with Hamline University in St. Paul to train the group’s members.
The Minnesota Board of Teaching also recently changed hiring rules to allow schools to bring in Teach For America’s personnel.
Teach For America was started in 1990 by Wendy Kopp, a Princeton University graduate who raised $2.5 million of start-up funding to get top college graduates into inner-city schools. Kopp, now CEO, leads an organization with more than 6,000 corps members teaching about 400,000 students across the country.
The Twin Cities area is one of five places across the country where the organization wants to expand beyond its present 29 locations. Kramer hopes to see corps members in the Twin Cities next school year.
The Medtronic Foundation, the charitable arm of the Fridley-based medical-device maker, has been a Teach For America booster for years, giving $1.4 million in grants since 1992.
David Etzwiler, executive director of the Medtronic Foundation, said he’s been speaking with Kramer about the need to get Teach For America into area schools.
“We’ve had some conversations about how there are some serious inequalities in the Twin Cities between rich and poor, particularly communities of color,” Etzwiler said.
cnewmarker@bizjournals.com | (612) 288-2107
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