Dear TFA Nashville-Chattanooga Alumni,
I hope this note finds you and yours well and that many of you are charged up to begin one of the most important school years in our students’ careers and in the history of Teach For America. We got this!
Alongside this excitement, I wanted to reach out to share a bittersweet note: I’ve made an important personal decision to transition out of my Executive Director role toward the end of 2021. Ten years ago, I made the best professional decision of my career and decided to leave the strategy consulting world for a new job with Teach For America. I aspired toward a career that would allow me to live out my values of Tikkun Olam (the betterment of the world) through helping others to have agency in their lives and to captain their own destinies. It has been a journey that I never could have foreseen, one filled with love, joy, challenge, learning, and, ultimately, positive benefit for thousands of children in our region and beyond, including my own students who are now rising seniors at my placement school.
It has also been a journey that has allowed me to lead alongside many of you. It has truly been an awe-inspiring honor to bear witness to your collective leadership over the last five years (and especially over the last year and half). The TFA Nashville-Chattanooga network, now over 1,200 strong, has shown up for kids and families in ways that I will carry with me as inspiration through the rest of my career. I’m deeply proud to call you a colleague in this generational work, and I know we will continue to weave our paths together in the years to come.
Looking forward, I am coordinating closely with TFA leadership and our regional board to ensure a smooth Executive Director recruitment and hiring process. I am committed to setting sail toward a new strategic direction with a new Executive Director as seamlessly as possible in coming months in order to ensure our region remains a powerful force for good in our communities.
If you'd like to discuss this update further or share thoughts on the future of TFA Nashville-Chattanooga (or any great candidates for the Executive Director role!), please join me on September 1 for a community conversation. I look forward to continuing to pursue our common mission together as a local alumni.
Always in partnership,
Ben
Ben Schumacher
Executive Director
Teach For America | Nashville-Chattanooga
220 Athens Way, Suite 300
Nashville, TN 37228
