The Western Union Foundation, reiterating its commitment to education, today announced US$350,000 in total grants to Teach For All and four of its network partners in Mexico, Austria, India, and the United Kingdom.   

These grants are part of Education for Better, a three-year commitment launched at the UN General Assembly in September 2012 by Western Union and the Western Union Foundation.  The initiative includes philanthropic grants from the Western Union Foundation, advocacy, products/services, volunteer and marketing support for secondary and vocational education around the world:

• A US$250,000 total grant to Teach For All’s efforts to increase and accelerate the impact of programs that are cultivating the leadership necessary for change in their countries.

• A US$100,000 total grant to support Teach For All partners Enseña por México, Teach For Austria, Teach For India, and Teach First in the United Kingdom. The grant will advance education, including secondary level education, through professional development and training of Teach For All program teachers.

The partner organizations have a shared vision for expanded educational opportunity in their countries, by recruiting and developing diverse individuals from a range of academic disciplines to commit two years to teach in high need classrooms and to work throughout their lives, both within and outside of education, in pursuit of expanded opportunity for children.

“Teach For All is proud to work with the Western Union Foundation to help expand educational opportunity across the globe,” said Wendy Kopp, co-founder and CEO, Teach For All.  “The Foundation’s financial support, employee engagement, and volunteer activities continue to be key to the success of Teach For All’s efforts globally and to the efforts of our partners locally.  We appreciate their support of these programs impacting thousands of teachers and students across 36 countries worldwide.” 

Teach For All aspires to the vision that, one day, all children will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education. Given the breadth and severity of the problem, however, incremental improvements in education will not be enough to change outcomes for children from marginalized communities. Teach For All believes that mobilizing promising young leaders around the world and equipping them to drive innovative, broad-scale, and systemic change will help to catalyze the transformational improvements required to expand educational opportunity. 

Today,  Teach For All is a global network of more than 35 partner organizations, and its partners are fielding more than 16,000 teachers (selected from more than 100,000 applicants) who are reaching over 1.15 million children and have fielded over 43,0000 alums. 

“Education plays a powerful role in changing peoples’ lives for better – translating into stronger, more resilient communities and economies worldwide,” said Patrick Gaston, president, Western Union Foundation. “Our partnership with Teach for All and its global network is an integral component of the Foundation’s Education for Better program, and demonstrates our continued commitment to financial inclusion and economic development.”

To date, the Education for Better initiative has provided more than US$12.7 million to enhance education efforts in 54 different countries for an estimated 1 million students and 17,000 teachers worldwide via charitable organizations such as UNICEF, Teach For All, UNESCO, Mercy Corps, Pratham, Save the Children and Jobs for America’s Graduates.

About The Western Union Foundation
The Western Union Foundation is dedicated to creating a better world, where the ability to realize dreams through economic opportunity is not just a privilege for the few but a right for all.  Through its signature program, Education for Better, and with the support of The Western Union Company, its employees, Agents, and business partners, The Western Union Foundation works to realize this vision by supporting education and disaster relief efforts as pathways toward a better future.  Our combined social ventures efforts make life better for individuals, families and communities around the world.  Since its inception, The Western Union Foundation has paid more than $103 million in grants and other giving.  These funds have been pledged to more than 2,760 nongovernmental organizations in more than 136 countries and territories. The Western Union Foundation, is a separate §501(c)(3) recognized United States charity.  To learn more, visit www.westernunionfoundation.org, or Follow us on Twitter @TheWUFoundation.

About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders.  As of March 31, 2015, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of over 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories and over 100,000 ATMs and kiosks.  In 2014, The Western Union Company completed 255 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $85 billion of principal between consumers, and 484 million business payments.  For more information, visit www.WesternUnion.com. 

About Teach For All
Teach For All is a global network of more than 35 locally led and funded independent partner organizations with a shared vision for expanded educational opportunity in their countries. Each partner recruits and develops diverse leaders to commit two years to teach in their nations’ high-need classrooms and to work throughout their lives to increase opportunity for children.

For more information, visit www.teachforall.org, Facebook, or Twitter

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Source: Western Union

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Western Union

The Western Union Company, a leader in global payment services, believes access to financial services is a necessity. Western Union moves money reliably and quickly to almost every country - and we do it for extraordinary people seeking a better life and for businesses that generate jobs and opportunity.

Our business changes lives for the better. So does the Western Union Foundation: since 2001, the Western Union Foundation has awarded more than $101.1 million in grants to more than 2,730 nongovernmental organizations in more than 135 countries and territories..

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