In addition to being able to sleep more soundly knowing that we have significant funding forthcoming, we are particularly excited about our selection because FFF's mission is extremely timely and stands to change giving as we know it. In a nut shell: "FFF aims to transform young people into social investors for life, mobilizing this generation’s financial resources, passion, energy, and drive to advance global sustainability & human dignity. FFF envisions a new generation of global citizens embracing social investment as action to shape the global agenda of our times, and create a vibrant, sustainable future." Sounds a lot like the vision of another organization I know all too well. Our alignment with FFF positions us to make a deeper impact in the lives of both students and donors and will help us realize our goal of changing the way Americans--particularly younger Americans--give in the future.  We couldn't be more thrilled.

We were nominated to FFF by Teach For America so this also feels like the right time to thank Teach For America staff and alumni for their continued support and belief in our cause. The organization is consistently one of our biggest cheerleaders and we feel fortunate to be part of such an amazing network of people who are passionate about ending educational disparities.  One person, in particular, deserves a very public and sincere shout out: Chaula Gupta, Director of the Teach For America Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, has believed in us from the start and has done a lot behind the scenes to guide us to this point. Thank you, Chaula, for all you do.

The fallout from the financial crisis is hitting New York City schools hard: With the city's budget strained beyond capacity, CNN is reporting that New York City may have to lay off up to 15,000 teachers from city schools.  With the school system in firing mode, Teach For America--the national nonprofit that places top college graduates in low-income classrooms--announced yesterday that it would drastically cut the number of teachers it places in New York in 2009.  In previous years, around 500 Teach For America corps members (including yours truly) have been placed in public school classrooms in NYC; next year that number will be about 350 or fewer, with a larger proportion being placed in charter schools than in years past.

Teach For America's mantra is that fixing the achivement gap must be "our generation's civil rights issue."  The organization aims to build a movement of people in all professions who have taught in low-income schools and thus have the experience and dedication needed to help fix American education.  But that model presupposes that there will always be low-income schools with teacher shortages that can be readily filled by recent college graduates.  If budgetary shortfalls force schools to institute hiring freezes, what happens to the vision of a broad-based movement aimed at eliminating educational disparities in America? More...