Teach For America and Lilly Launch Program to Match Lilly Employees with Teachers in Underserved Publ...( Lilly Advocates Will Help Teach F...),Health

Lilly Advocates Will Help Teach For America Teachers Build Community

Connections in Support of Student Achievement

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Teach For America and Eli Lilly and Company today launched a program to support the efforts of new teachers working in the city's low-income communities. Lilly employees will pair with Teach For America teachers to help them get acclimated to the city and to foster networking opportunities. The Lilly employee advocates and Teach For America teachers will meet for the first time at a matching event tonight at Lilly corporate headquarters.

Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. Teach For America expanded to Indianapolis this fall, bringing 46 dedicated young teachers to work in Indianapolis Public Schools. Each of these corps members was matched with a Lilly employee based on personal profiles submitted online. The Lilly advocacy efforts will supplement the ongoing professional development and support that corps members receive from Teach For America.

"We're grateful to Lilly and its employees for their commitment to support our teachers as they work relentlessly to make sure students reach their full academic potential," said Jason Kloth, executive director of Teach For America in Indianapolis. "This is an especially valued partnership as we establish roots in the community."

More than half of the Indianapolis charter corps grew up or attended school in Indiana. Nationally, 3,700 top college graduates joined Teach For America's 2008 corps. They were selected for their strong academic achievement and leadership experience from nearly 25,000 applicants, including 14 percent of graduating seniors at DePauw University, 11 percent at Morehouse College and Yale University, and 9 percent at the
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