South Dakota

State Farm Continues Investment In Education With $20,000 Gift To Teach For America – South Dakota.

State Farm has pledged $1.5 million to Teach For America in support of the national nonprofit’s efforts to close the achievement gap in our country, bringing State Farm’s total giving to $3.9 million since 2008. Teach For America recruits, trains, and supports top college graduates and professionals who commit to teach for two years in under-resourced schools and become lifelong leaders in the pursuit of educational equity.

The funds will support Teach For America’s national operations and the impact of Teach For America corps members and alumni in nine regions. South Dakota, where 55 corps members are reaching more than 2,000 students this year, will receive $20,000. The other eight regions are: Dallas, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and Washington, D.C.

“We’re so grateful for State Farm’s leadership in supporting Teach For America corps members and alumni in South Dakota as they work alongside families, community leaders and other committed educators to ensure that children served on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations have access to an excellent education,” said Jim Curran, new executive director of Teach For America in South Dakota. “State Farm’s generous gift enables Teach For America to deepen our collective impact on the educational landscape of native communities.”

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only 49 percent of Native students graduate from high school and just 11 percent obtain a college degree, compared to the national average of 86 percent and 29 percent, respectively. To help address this inequity, Teach For America has expanded into five regions that reach Native communities. During the 2010-11 school year, approximately 460 Teach For America corps members are teaching more than 13,000 children from Native backgrounds in Arizona, Hawai’i, New Mexico, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

 “As a teacher, my job is to determine what levers will drive my students to exceed the expectations of grim statistics,” says Jonathan Santos Silva, High School Math teacher on Pine Ridge Reservation. “On the reservation, partnering with the community is an essential lever to student success. As a result, I have the privilege of witnessing students make great strides in short periods of time.”

State Farm has been one of Teach For America’s National Champion Investors since 2009. National Champion Investors provide annual support of $1 million or more, and others include Fidelity Investments, Glenview Capital, Google Inc., The Medtronic Foundation, Visa Inc., and Wells Fargo.

“Our work with Teach For America South Dakota underscores our belief that a critical factor in improving student performance is a high-quality teacher in every classroom,” said Vice President of Agency of State Farm for South Dakota, Terry Barton. “State Farm and Teach For America will work together to positively change students’ lives in our highest-need schools and provide them with the education they deserve.”

Since its founding in 1990, Teach For America’s network has grown to 33,000 people. This fall, 9,300 corps members will be teaching in 43 regions across the country while nearly 24,000 alumni continue to work in a variety of professional sectors to expand opportunities for kids growing up in low-income communities.