Seven years ago, African American Teaching Fellows set out to address the racial disparity in our local public schools.  At the time, fewer than 1 in 10 teachers were African American.  While strides have been made by both local school systems, the situation remains largely unchanged.  In our first seven years, we’ve supported an average of three Fellows each year.

Now, we’re stepping up.  Over the next 18 months, we’re going school-t0-school, door-to-door, and through every online portal that we think will work, to increase our Fellowship from three to twenty.  We are looking for exceptional students, community leaders, and will develop a cadre of the best teachers in the city.  By the end of 2012, we will have twenty active African American Teaching Fellows to serve our local public schools.

Although we strongly believe that we need to serve more Fellows, we are not growing simply to be bigger.  We are striving for measured growth, equipped with the experience of seven great years of providing Fellowships and support to new teachers and founded on the belief that we must attract high-caliber applicants and support them with innovative programming.

We have developed informal partnerships with four Virginia Colleges (UVA, Norfolk State, JMU, and Mary Baldwin) and will work to add two more partner schools in the fall of 2011. Further, we will conduct annual recruiting events for local Teacher Assistants and college graduates.  And we are enhancing and refining our Mentor Program and our leadership training.  In short, we are working to see that we are growing smarter.  We want all twenty Fellows to be hired by the local schools.

Who is calling for Twenty Fellows by 2012?

• Both school systems. In both Charlottesville and Albemarle County, when we ask why the racial disparity among teachers persists, the answer we hear is about recruitment of African American candidates. Because both school systems have a strategic plan to increase diversity among their teachers, they embrace our plan to increase recruitment of Teaching Fellows.

• Current Teaching Fellows. Development of strong relationships among Fellows has been essential in providing the social support needed to undergo the community building that takes place in a classroom. Our Fellows welcome the increased recruitment effort.

• The community. Individuals, churches, and foundations have all embraced the development of a larger cadre of African American Teaching Fellows. By setting the ambitious goal of supporting Twenty Fellows by 2012, we are responding directly to a community-driven concern.

What are the campaign goasl?

1. The primary goal is to attract high caliber candidates who are committed to teaching in our local public schools and serving our community.

2.  AATF has also set a goal of raising $100,000 to cover the tuition costs for our Fellows.  Every dollar raised as part of the 20 by 2012 campaign will be applied exclusively to tuition.  In preparation for this bold campaign, we have generated a Kick-Off fund of $21,260.