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Mississippi Delta

The Mississippi Delta was the site of many pivotal events during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and continues to embody and reflect educational inequity as a prime civil rights issue. Almost 90 percent of the students in the Delta’s low-income schools are African-American, and eighth-graders in the region are reading three and a half grade levels behind their higher-income peers. The Delta is in dire need of - and warmly welcomes - quality teachers and education reformers who will help change the life prospects of the region’s students.

Quick Stats
Site Since: 1991
Corps Size: 162
Average yearly temperature: 61.7°
Car: Access to car is essential

Salary: See cost of living

The Delta’s rich cultural heritage is substantial, from the literary legacy of William Faulkner and Richard Wright to the hometowns of Fannie Lou Hamer, Jim Henson, and B.B. King. Still, the real draw of the Delta is the potential for impact and lasting change in this land of dichotomies.

Corps members and alumni alike are known and commended for adopting a “can-do” entrepreneurial spirit to tackle the region’s needs. Due to both the welcoming spirit of the region and ripe opportunities to make change, our corps members and alumni have created holistic experiences for their students and are building institutions in the Delta that will change not only their students’ lives, but also the social fabric of the region. For example:

• Corps members and alumni coach sports teams and spearhead after-school clubs and activities such as chess, Latin, and “Math Rocks”.
• In the last year, corps members have taken their students to Washington, D.C., Honduras, Spain, and France - in their first or second years of teaching.
• Five Delta alumni are now principals or assistant principals in Delta schools.
• Three Delta alumni founded a Boys & Girls Club in Helena, Arkansas, after being in the Delta for only two to three years.

The students of the Delta are offered an extremely limited set of experiences from their everyday surroundings, and corps members have the opportunity to dramatically broaden their students’ perspectives and imbue a renewed sense of hope relative to their life prospects. Delta corps members are viewed as role models for the entire community, in terms of both teaching capability and the local leadership responsibilities they quickly assume.

Life

Teach For America • Delta’s reach includes two states – Arkansas and Mississippi – and stretches some 150 miles from Forrest City, Arkansas in the north, to Greenville, Mississippi, in the south. The Delta offers corps members a wide variety of living and teaching experiences. While most are county-seat towns, a few communities where we place are quite small with a population of 350 people or less. The largest town, Greenville, has 42,000 citizens. Corps members tend to live with one to three other corps members in low-rent, larger houses in the communities where they teach, or within a 20-35 minute commute to their schools. Despite the vast span of the region, placement districts are clustered, giving corps members the chance to live near each other and to imbed themselves in their communities.

Local residents are extremely supportive of Teach For America’s efforts in the Delta. In addition to viewing corps members as integral, new members of their communities, residents often refer to corps members as their “kids” in this “home away from home.” Delta corps members are more than teachers in this region. They are role models and beacons of hope for students, educators, and local residents. They embody windows of opportunity, offering the region a glimpse into the possibility of a life of aspiration and success on a global scale. Many students in the Delta have never traveled far beyond their town’s borders. Aside from what they view on television, there is very little outside influence, resulting in minimal awareness of the larger world that surrounds them. Our corps members in the Delta don’t just represent hope and possibility – they actually present a path to their students. Some corps members have taken their students to Washington, D.C.; others have led trips to Central America and Europe. Regardless of the specific method, Delta corps members are holistically educating kids and cultivating a true sense of confidence and optimism in the region.

All corps members are at most a 30-minute drive from a large grocery store or a chain store like Wal-Mart, where they can find all the necessities. Specialty stores and boutiques can also be found in some historic downtowns. Additionally, nearby major cities such as Memphis, Tenn., Jackson, Miss., and Little Rock, Ark. give corps members access to the amenities of city life in a two-hour drive or less. The way the corps spends its leisure time reflects both the diversity of its members and of their surroundings. They can often be found enjoying one another’s company on neighborhood porches; exploring, hiking, camping, and canoeing in the local parks and preserves; attending the Warfield concert series or stage plays; eating weekly dinners at the local Mexican restaurant; or playing an informal sports game. Most are also sure to take advantage of such quintessential Delta institutions as the Delta Cultural Center, the King Biscuit Blues Festival, and the Leland Crawfish Festival.

Corps Culture

While the Delta corps has grown from nine to 160 corps members over the past 17 years, our corps culture remains very tight. The Delta’s growing corps values not only professional collaboration, but also less formal interactions such as weekly potluck dinners, Tuesday night movies and book clubs, and Frisbee games every Sunday afternoon. Although corps members are spread out over many miles, the Delta corps and staff have worked diligently to build a comprehensive support network comprised of current corps members, alumni, and local teachers, who work closely to share expertise and provide support to first-year corps members and one another.

The Delta corps prides itself in providing leadership opportunities and “giving-forward” to the next corps. Second-year corps members and alumni step up to lead learning teams and courses at monthly all-corps Professional Saturday meetings. First-year teachers also attend second-year or alumni- led Investment, Community and Execution Groups in their local communities during the opening weeks of school, where they problem-solve in small groups and unite to surmount challenges. Additionally, Delta program directors are integral partners in helping corps members develop the knowledge and skills necessary to close the achievement gap. Program directors visit corps member classrooms for observations and conversations regularly, and corps members also set up informal observations and trouble shooting with one another in their schools and districts.