Alcoa Foundation Contributes $1.8 Million to Teach For All to Launch Teacher Wellbeing Initiative

10/03/2024

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Program expands existing relationship to serve teachers and students across three continents

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Alcoa Foundation announced today it is contributing $1.8 million across three years to Teach For All to expand mental health support and wellbeing initiatives in classrooms, communities and organizations. The funding will support the launch of new teacher wellbeing initiatives across three continents through support for Teach For Australia, Ensina Brasil, and Teach For America.

Teach For All and its network partners have found, through programming and research, that teacher wellbeing is essential for attracting and retaining educators, as well as enhancing their effectiveness. A 2021 study involving the University of York shows that burnout is one of the strongest predictors of teachers' intentions to leave the profession. Teach For All studies of what it takes to recruit the rising generation have also shown that this generation particularly values wellbeing in choosing a profession. Teach For All's initiatives have demonstrated a strong link between teacher wellbeing and improved student outcomes. To date, Teach For All has supported thousands of educators through their wellbeing-centered efforts. Ongoing initiatives are crucial to address and prevent teacher burnout around the world.

Alcoa Foundation's funding will enable Ensina Brasil, Teach For America, and Teach For Australia to support more than 500 teachers in the coming academic year. Globally, it will allow Teach For All to implement a trauma-informed workshop series to support teacher wellbeing, share best practices through Teach For All's Global Mental Health & Wellbeing Community, and launch a Teacher Wellbeing Accelerator for network partners to exchange strategies.

"Alcoa Foundation is proud to support this renewed collaboration with Teach For All and its network partners, with a special focus on the mental health and wellbeing of teachers," said Caroline Rossignol, President of Alcoa Foundation. "Adding a mental health and wellbeing component aligns well with our new focus on resiliency and our aim to be a catalyst for positive impact. Educators play a key role in shaping the future of students. We need to support them while continuing to provide quality learning experiences for students."

The three-year project also will support other activities that focus on enhancing the mental health and wellbeing of students and teachers, recognizing the critical impact this has on classrooms and communities. Activities will include developing leadership capacities to foster wellbeing among students and teachers, promoting "grow and build" initiatives focused on community mental health, and expanding Teach For All's Global Mental Health & Wellbeing Community.

In 2023, Alcoa Foundation's support enabled Teach For All to provide training to over 800 teachers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States and expand opportunities for more than 15,000 students across 24 public schools in Maranhão, Brazil.

"The renewed partnership with Alcoa Foundation is a testament to our joint commitment to fostering teacher wellbeing and ensuring children have the education, support, and opportunities they need to fulfill their potential," said Mariana Franco, Global Head of Corporate Partnerships at Teach For All. "We're delighted that this renewal will also include Teach For Australia for the first time, ensuring more people can benefit from Alcoa Foundation's support globally.

"We recognize the pivotal role strong mental health support plays in retaining teachers, ensuring their effectiveness, and attracting new educators to the profession. We're grateful to Alcoa Foundation for sharing this vision with us, and we're excited to see what our partnership will achieve."

About Alcoa Foundation

Founded in 1952, the Alcoa Foundation collaborates with trusted charitable organizations around the world to catalyze positive impact by investing in projects that advance sustainable social, environmental and economic outcomes, with priority placed on the regions where Alcoa Corporation operates.

About Teach For All

Teach For All is a global network of more than 60 independent, locally led organizations and a global organization united by a commitment to developing collective leadership to ensure all children can fulfill their potential. Each network partner recruits and develops promising leaders to teach in their nations' under-resourced schools and communities and, with this foundation, to work with others, inside and outside of education, towards a world where all children have the education, support, and opportunity to shape a better future. Teach For All's global organization works to increase the network's impact by supporting the development of new organizations; fostering network connectivity and learning; providing coaching and consulting; and enabling access to global resources for the benefit of the network.

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Source: Alcoa Foundation