Our Plan
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Develop a pipeline of diverse leaders in high-impact education roles.
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Ignite a generation of leaders who are equipped to solve educational inequity from every sector and field.
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Influence change through policy, community partnerships, and innovation.
Nisha Moore
Greater Chicago–Northwest Indiana ’22
Against All Odds
From a young age, Nisha saw the value in education. Growing up in foster care, she found safety and mentorship in the classroom because of her caring and dedicated middle school teachers who she says changed her life. Nisha was a teen mom and by 23, she was raising two boys, finishing school, and working full time. Nisha knew she wanted to follow in the footsteps of the teachers she admired and she received transitional funding from TFA to jump start her career as an educator. “I am a product of the CPS system and was an impoverished orphan of the state,” she said, “I have all these things against me but look where I am today. Education changed the trajectory of my life.”
Our Plan
Ignite a generation of leaders who are equipped to solve educational inequity from every sector and field.
We support our alumni in becoming equity-oriented, systems-change leaders through high quality professional learning programs and provide career support that helps our alumni find mission-aligned roles, especially focused on the pathway to school leadership.
Aspire Fellowship
The Aspire Fellowship supports teachers of color seeking to enter a principal certification program in the next two years, and is a joint effort between the UIC Ed.D.
Violeta Cerna-Prado
Assistant Principal
UIC College Prep
Greater Chicago–Northwest Indiana ’15
Violeta participated in the first cohort of the Aspire Fellowship. She wanted to fight for educational equity in her hometown, Chicago. She knew she could play a role in correcting the system that had continually failed Black and brown students. She shared that the Aspire Fellowship provided her with the community she needed to feel less alone in her pursuit of becoming a school leader and making difference in her community.
Rise Fellowship
Rise Teacher Leadership Fellowship aims to increase the impact of current teacher leaders and prepare more teachers to take on leadership roles within their schools.
Elisabethe Ocon Calderon
Director of Diverse Learning
Excel Academy of Southwest
Greater Chicago–Northwest Indiana ’18
Elisabethe knew very early that she wanted to work in education but needed support in identifying what that work would look like. She chose to join the Rise Fellowship because she thinks of herself as someone who is always learning. “The Rise Fellowship gave me the opportunity to re-center myself on this work, focus on my anti-racist practices, and help me understand what my role will look like outside of the classroom,” she said.
Career Design Fellowship
The Career Design Fellowship is a program in partnership with Mission Collaborative to explore and define the next career moves for our alumni.
Our Plan
Influence change through policy, community partnerships, and innovation.
Coalitions
Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program
TFA worked alongside Advance Illinois to increase the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program (MTISP) to $4.2 million from $1.9 million. This scholarship awards BIPOC and bilingual teachers money to pay for tuition and other fees. This new appropriation shows a dedicated investment in bilingual educators, which is crucial given the shortage of bilingual male teachers in Illinois. This scholarship program will also allow our eligible corps members to get their license and Master’s degree for free, one of the many ways TFA is working to make the choice to become a teacher more sustainable for our corps members.
Leaders of Leaders of Color for Systems Change Fellowship Kick-Off Celebration.
Policy + Systems Change
Leaders of Color for Systems Change Fellowship
The Leaders of Color for Systems Change Fellowship is designed to increase the participation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color in policy, organizing and advocacy spaces. Participants develop an investment in policy, advocacy and community organizing work that will continue to bring about change and equity in the educational landscape in our region.
Community Engagement
Addressing Local Needs
We play a crucial role in building the movement for educational equity in Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana by cultivating community partnerships and joining coalitions that address needs that emerge from our corps members, students, and school communities.
We know that meaningful change in education relies on trust and connection between communities, school, policymakers, businesses, educators, and families. The Neighborhood Spotlight was created to empower corps members to connect with the communities in which they are serving.
Featured Videos
We hosted several events to develop relationships with local community organizations and experts in our field with a particular focus on social justice, mental health, anti-racist innovators.