Taunton, MA – Mechanics Cooperative Bank, and President and CEO Joseph T. Baptista Jr., are proud to announce their sponsorship of Teach For America again in 2021, in support of the Fall River public school system. Mechanics Cooperative Bank’s $5,000 contribution directly supports the work of Meghan Doyle, who teaches Humanities at Argosy Collegiate Charter Middle School.
Through its support of local classrooms, Mechanics Cooperative Bank is furthering Teach For America’s partnership with the Fall River community and its mission of expanding educational opportunity for all. Too often, students growing up in poverty don’t have access to the excellent education all children deserve but, as a community, we are helping change this reality.
Joseph T. Baptista Jr., President and CEO of Mechanics Cooperative Bank commented “on the need to create system-wide changes to give all kids an excellent education – and our public-school systems are the foundation of education in our community. Our support for Teach For America is directly tied to our philosophy of “Let’s Keep it Local!”. We feel this sponsorship is another example of how Mechanics Cooperative Bank is proactively investing in the future of our local community.”
Mechanics Cooperative Bank’s contribution has supported the ongoing training and development of teacher Meghan Doyle at Argosy Collegiate Charter Middle School. Megan joined the Teach For America community in 2011 and has been appointed to the school’s Leadership Committee which is responsible for developing proposals and grant applications.
Josh Biber, executive director of Teach For America-Massachusetts noted, “Mechanics Cooperative Bank is a tremendous partner in helping provide children in Fall River with the educational opportunities they deserve. Having business leaders like Joe is the perfect example for our faculty and our students, that the community is directly invested in their education.”
Teach For America’s mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort. The program recruits outstanding college graduates and professionals who commit two years to teach in underserved schools and become lifelong leaders for educational equity.
This year, over 170 Teach For America teachers, known as corps members, lead classrooms in high-need communities across the Commonwealth, including Boston, Chelsea, Revere, Lawrence, and, most recently, Fall River and New Bedford. This fall, Teach for America welcomed another cohort of teachers and leaders to Fall River, and New Bedford Public Schools, with 30 corps members now teaching in the South Coast region.
About Teach For America
Teach For America works in partnership with communities to expand educational opportunity for children facing the challenges of poverty. Founded in 1990, Teach For America recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding individuals of all academic disciplines to commit two years to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in the movement to end educational inequity. This school year, more than 10,000 corps members are teaching over 50 urban and rural regions across the country while nearly 28,000 alumni work across sectors to ensure that all children have access to an excellent education. To help Teach For America partner with your local school system or to directly support the organization, please visit TeachForAmerica.org. All gifts will support the organization’s efforts to recruit, train, support, and accelerate the leadership of its corps members and alumni.
About Mechanics Cooperative Bank
With total assets over $670 million, Mechanics Cooperative Bank offers a wide variety of personal and business deposit and loan products. Established in 1877, Mechanics Cooperative Bank is Massachusetts’ second-oldest co-operative bank with nine conveniently located branches in Bridgewater, Taunton, North Dighton, Somerset, Swansea, Fall River, Westport, and New Bedford. For more information, call 1-888-MECHANICS (632-4264) or visit Mechanics-Coop.com. Member FDIC. Member DIF. Equal Housing Lender.