Place a call

Advocate to keep Teach for America and City Year funded

Teach For America and City Year programs have made lasting differences in the lives of hundreds of Tulsa school children by providing access to a more inspiring, thoughtful education experience. The models attack educational inequity for many kids in low-income neighborhoods, an injustice caused by racism, outdated policies, lack of resources, poverty, and other issues.

Cruel realities exist within Tulsa Public Schools: 85% of the district’s students are economically disadvantaged, half of whom barely half finish high school. The consequences can be devastating. Drop-outs are eight times more likely to become incarcerated and three times more likely to be unemployed. Our people and our economy suffer.     

Teach For America and City Year, which arrived in Tulsa in 2009 and 2013, respectively, are committed to cultivating a large, diverse and thriving community of team members and staff who ignite educational excellence in partnership with local educators, school communities and community partners.

Teach For America in Greater Tulsa is now a growing leadership force of 400-plus individuals seeking to make a meaningful impact in our classrooms and community. This year there are 180 teachers serving students in 47 schools throughout Tulsa. And there are 200 TFA alumni who have stayed in Tulsa to become school administrators (22), teachers (100), employees of non-profit organizations and companies, and entrepreneurs.

City Year Tulsa began moving the needle in Tulsa by deploying 20 highly skilled corps members, ages 18-25, to serve in two TPS schools four years ago. This year, it has 72 corps members serving in eight schools. City Year Tulsa invests in evidence-based, cost-effective, locally controlled strategies to improve student outcomes in Tulsa’s public education system and helps to build our city’s future workforce. Each day, members of the corps provide academic and social/emotional support to students. They specifically focus on improving student attendance, behavior, and course performance in math and English, since students struggling in those areas are most at-risk of dropping out.

Though each national program operates within its specific model, Teach for America and City Year corps members come from AmeriCorps, the federally-funded service organization. Unfortunately, the Corporation for National and Community Service—which administers AmeriCorps—is on the list of federal programs slated for elimination in the new administration’s 2018 budget proposal to Congress. The CNCS also enhances and supports the efforts of some 3,000 nonprofit, faith-based, and community groups, including Habitat for Humanity, Catholic Charities, Boys and Girls Club, and United Way through public-private partnerships with businesses and foundations.

Unless our elected representatives in Washington vote to reject the Trump administration’s call for eliminating funding for CNCS, the national service program will die beyond current federal funding. Buried with it will be Teach For America and City Year.

What can be done? Advocate by placing a call to the offices of our members of Congress to register your support of AmeriCorps and national service. You may not talk to anyone, but staffers in Congressional offices monitor and record all messages and report them daily to their elected official. Concerned constituents can make a difference.

Your message needs to be received before April 24 when the budget proposal will commence movement.

Call:

Rep. Jim Bridenstine, 202-225-2211

Rep. Markwayne Mullin, 202-225-2701

Rep. Tom Cole, 202-225-6165
(As a member of the House Appropriates Committee, Rep. Cole chairs the subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies; and serves on the House Budget Committee)

Sen. Jim Inhofe, 202-224-4721

Sen. James Lankford, 202-224-5754.

We need Teach For America and City Year to continue making positive impacts in the lives of our youth in Tulsa.