Teach for America Chicago and Philadelphia Sites Receive $200,000 Grant from Exelon Foundation

The Exelon Foundation awarded $200,000 to Teach For America’s Chicago and Philadelphia sites. The grant will support Teach For America’s math and science initiative, which brings outstanding math and science teachers to some of the country's lowest-income communities. Teach For America is the national corps of top recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in low-income urban and rural communities and become lifelong leaders in expanding opportunity for children.

The Exelon Foundation grant will be distributed to each Teach For America site in the amount of $50,000 per year, over two years, to offset the costs of recruiting, training, and providing professional development for 40 corps members teaching high school math and science in Chicago and Philadelphia. These teachers, selected for their records of achievement, perseverance in the face of challenges, leadership skills, and critical thinking ability, are dedicated to doing whatever it takes to accelerate their students’ academic progress. Beyond their immediate impact in the classroom, alumni of Teach For America are working from within education and other professional sectors to generate long-term solutions to educational inequity.

“Teach For America is grateful for the Exelon Foundation’s support for and confidence in the work that we do to give Chicago’s children the educational opportunities they deserve,” said Josh Anderson, executive director of Teach For America in Chicago. “Teach For America corps members are effective teachers, and we are so excited to bring their outstanding talent and leadership to Chicago’s high school students.”

“Every day, we see that our corps members do whatever it takes to help their students succeed,” said Mike Wang, executive director of Teach For America in Philadelphia. “The Exelon Foundation’s support will go a long way to further the impact of our corps members in Philadelphia’s high schools and communities and to ensure that more of the city’s children have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.”

The Exelon Foundation provides program grants in three areas – environment and conservation awareness, innovative math and science education, and diversity and tolerance. “In Teach For America we have found a partner dedicated to improving math and science education in urban schools where test scores often are lowest. By providing funding for this program, we hope to improve and expand the realm of career choices for high school students in our two key cities -- Chicago and Philadelphia,” said John W. Rowe, chairman, Exelon Foundation.

Teach For America’s Math and Science Initiative

Recognizing the urgent need for excellent math and science education in this country, Teach For America has launched a national campaign to bring increasing numbers of outstanding math and science teachers to the country’s lowest-income communities. In the 2008-09 school year, 1,300 corps members are teaching math and science to more than 130,000 secondary school students. Teach For America aims to dramatically increase these numbers by the year 2010, placing 2,000 corps members in math and science classrooms across the country.

Teach For America’s math and science initiative begins with intense recruiting on college campuses, especially at schools with strong math, science, and engineering programs. Teach For America works to ensure that its math and science teachers have the training and support they need to succeed with their students. Finally, this initiative aims to foster leadership in math and science education policy and practice among the program’s alumni.

About Teach For America

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, 6,200 corps members are teaching in over 1,600 schools in 29 regions across the country while more than 14,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org.

About Exelon Foundation

The Exelon Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization funded solely by Exelon Corporation, an energy company, through shareholder dollars. The Foundation supports nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations primarily within the Exelon operating companies’ service areas. The mission of the Foundation is to encourage respect for the environment and strengthen the social and economic fabric of the community by primarily providing program grants in three areas – environment and conservation awareness, innovative math and science education, and diversity and tolerance.