Teacher Preparation
This grant supports recruiting, preparing, and retaining diverse, certified K-12 teachers in Philadelphia to better reflect and serve the city’s student population.
Funder: William Penn Foundation
Due Dates: Rolling (Open Application) | Periodic RFPs (see program page for current opportunities)
Funding Amounts: Recent grants: $6.6M across 15 awards since 2024; typical awards vary by project scope; Foundation will not fund more than 25% of an organization's operating costs for more than 3 years in 5.
Summary: Supports efforts to recruit, prepare, and retain diverse, certified K-12 teachers in Philadelphia, aiming to better reflect and serve the city’s student population.
Key Information: Priority for Philadelphia-based organizations or those serving Philadelphia K-12 schools; proposals must align with the objective of increasing teacher diversity and certification.
Description
This grant opportunity, offered by the William Penn Foundation, aims to increase the percentage of certified K-12 teachers in Philadelphia and ensure that the teaching workforce more closely reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of the city’s students. The initiative addresses the shrinking and less diverse teacher pipeline in Pennsylvania, with a particular focus on Philadelphia, where teacher attrition rates are the highest in the state and teachers of color are significantly underrepresented compared to the student population.
Supported activities include teacher residencies, improvements to teacher preparation programs, career exploration opportunities, and mentorship programs. The overarching goal is to recruit, prepare, and retain high-quality, diverse teachers—especially Black, Hispanic, Asian, and other teachers of color—to improve student achievement, graduation rates, and school climate in Philadelphia’s K-12 schools.
