Teach For America
Lobbying client
Teach For America is a national nonprofit, founded in 1989 by Wendy Kopp and headquartered in New York City, that recruits recent college graduates to teach for at least two years in low-income public and charter schools, and has run its New York program since 1990. It has filed 3 lobbying disclosures in 2026, worth $40,000 in compensation, through Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies LLC, registered citywide on a procurement-related matter the filing does not otherwise specify. The nonprofit has held New York City contracts totaling $19.11 million since 2009, with $2.25 million active as of August 2026.
- Council members lobbied
- 51 (citywide)
- Filings (since 2024)
- 3
- Lobbying compensation (since 2024)
- $40,000
- Industry (per city contracts)
- Human Services
- City contracts (active)
- $2,248,750 · 1 contract
- Awarded all-time
- $19,111,000 · 14 since 2009, incl. expired
- Paid to date
- $12,964,148
- Won without a fresh bid
- 63% of contract value · $12,018,500 · 5 contracts
- Discretionary funding (FY2009-FY2027)
- $20,000 · 1 awards
- Top officer pay (FY2024)
- $598,385 · Elisa Villanueva Beard, CEO & Director
Represented by lobbyist firms
- Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies, LLC Lobbyist firm
Holds contracts at
- Department of Education City agency
What they lobbied on
subjects from their filings
- Procurement - Issue affecting Teach for America
City contracts
Registered city contracts, largest first by current contract value (not amount spent): running now, then registered to start later, then ended. Totals count every registered contract. Each line shows its Checkbook contract ID. The tag on each row is how it was awarded (“no-bid” = non-competitive).
- Teacher Recruitment Services Department of Education · MA104020239376800 $2,248,750
- TO PROVIDE SERVICES TO ALTERNATE ROUTE TEACHERS Department of Education · CT104020109056101 · ended 2012 $6,892,500
- provide services for alternate route teachers Department of Education · CT104020139353816 · ended 2017 $3,761,500
- Teacher Recruitment Services Department of Education · MA104020199978167 · ended 2023 $3,544,500
- To Provide Teacher Recruitment Services Department of Education · MA104020169674211 · ended 2020 $2,443,750
- 3 BIDS-SERVICES Department of Education · CT104020253001449 · ended 2025 $25,000
- NEGOTIATED SERVICES-SERVICES Department of Education · CT104020203013184 · ended 2020 $25,000
- NEGOTIATED SERVICES-SERVICES Department of Education · CT104020193097878 · ended 2019 $25,000
- NEGOTIATED SERVICES-SERVICES Department of Education · CT104020193042149 · ended 2019 $25,000
- NEGOTIATED SERVICES-SERVICES Department of Education · CT104020193036253 · ended 2019 $25,000
Discretionary funding received
City Council discretionary (member-item) awards, largest first. Covers FY2009-FY2027.
- Local DYCD · FY2018 $20,000
Officer & key-staff pay
Reportable compensation from this organization's IRS Form 990 (Part VII), latest available filing (FY2024). Includes pay from related organizations where reported; an annual figure, not a running total. Source: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.
- Elisa Villanueva Beard CEO & Director $598,385
- Jemina Bernard President & Chief Operating Officer $528,940
- Joy Okoro EVP, Field Impact & Integration $461,865
- Tracy-Elizabeth Clay EVP, People & Administration $448,696
- Whitney Petersmeyer EVP, Growth $445,377
- Stephen Majors EVP, Chief External Affairs Officer $382,819
Officer pay over time
Total officer pay changed -2% from FY2023 to FY2024. Top-officer reportable compensation by year (org-paid only), with each year's share of total revenue. Source: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer 990 filings.
- FY2023 Elisa Villanueva Beard · 1.96% of revenue $544,767
- FY2024 Elisa Villanueva Beard · 1.62% of revenue $598,385
Federal awards
Federal awards made directly to this organization in fiscal years 2023 through 2026. Each amount is what the federal government has OBLIGATED on that award as recorded on USAspending.gov as of 2026-08-31 — money committed, not money paid out. These are prime awards only: federal money this
- Department of Education 84.423 Supporting Effective Educator Development Program · Department of Education · Grant $16,205,091
- Department of Education 84.411 Education Innovation and Research (formerly Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund) · Department of Education · Grant $6,000,000
- Appalachian Regional Commission 23.002 Appalachian Area Development · Appalachian Regional Commission · Grant $500,000
- Department of Education 84.215 Innovative Approaches to Literacy; Promise Neighborhoods; Full-Service Community Schools; and Congressionally Directed Spending for Elementary and Secondary Education Community Projects · Department of Education $174,000
Congressional testimony
Congressional committee meetings where congress.gov lists a witness whose stated affiliation is exactly this organization's name, for the 118th and 119th Congresses, as of 2026-09-01. Name variations are not matched, so an appearance filed under a different spelling of this organization is missing
- "Building an AI-Ready America: Teaching in the AI Age" House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education 2026-02-24