The 2020-21 Community Fellows with Jon Clark, President of the Bower Foundation: (l-r) Evely Jimenez, Maria Lorenzano, Alejandrina Lorenzano, and Monica Roajs
Help Santa Barbara Grow Its Own Teachers
The Gevirtz School, in cooperation with regional education partners and seed investors, has successfully launched a Community Fellows Initiative that is changing the nature of K-12 education in Santa Barbara and is becoming a model program for all of California. This solution is based on research, relationships, and a refusal to accept an education system that doesn’t serve all children. Through our Community Fellows Initiative, we strategically recruit teacher candidates who will contribute to the excellence and diversity of our local education workforce.
Our Community Fellows Initiative offers:
1. A fellowship that covers all expenses of attending the Gevirtz School’s top-tier Teacher Education Program for comprehensive training.
2. A support system to help foster the fellows through the rigorous 12-month program.
3. Access to professional networks that position the fellows for teaching jobs in local schools upon completion of their teaching credential.
Help us MATCH a fully funded fellowship for a future teacher! You can do so securely online.
Between now and August 20, 2021, the Helen and Will Webster Foundation will match the first $40,000 in gifts, dollar-for-dollar. It’s a way to double the power of your generosity.
By mitigating financial and professional hurdles, with your financial support we can recruit Community Fellows and enable people of diverse backgrounds to stay in (or return to) our local community and therefore assist our community in its goal to diversify the workforce to better serve the student population.
By placing these highly trained educational professionals in their home communities, this initiative creates a pipeline for underserved members of our community to fulfill their passion to serve in the education workforce. Given nearly 50% of teachers leave the profession within their first five years, the personal and professional networks provided by this fellowship and TEP guard against the early career challenges of entering this rewarding but demanding work place.
So far, through our partnership with Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) and their Program for Effective Access to College (PEAC), we have recruited ten Community Fellows. The first four fellows to earn their credentials have already worked for a year in SBUSD, teaching English at Dos Pueblos High School and at San Marcos High School, kindergarten at Cleveland School, and special education at Peabody School. The second cohort of fellows will begin their teaching this fall.