AmeriCorps, created by Congress in 1993, pays young people a small stipend and some money to help offset the cost of a college degree to spend a year working full-time on community service projects. Every year, more than 200,000 AmeriCorps volunteers and workers nationwide work on disaster relief efforts, educational programs like tutoring, environmental stewardship, community health programs, and services for military veterans.
Without the services provided by AmeriCorps, the teacher shortage in the city would get worse, said Anna Shurak, executive director of Teach For America Philadelphia.
This school year, 120 out of more than 300 vacant positions were ultimately filled by TFA educators. More than 400 TFA alumni work as teachers in Philadelphia classrooms. And nearly 10% of all Philadelphia principals are TFA alumni, Shurak said.
“At a time when teachers are needed more than ever, Teach for America plays the vital role of having folks coming in that are committed, that are interested, that are focused on our students,” Shurak said.
If the AmeriCorps cuts stand, Shurak said, it will not only rip educators away from their classrooms but hamper TFA’s ability to recruit young people into the teacher pipeline — a process that was already strained in the years following the pandemic.
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