news release > entergy joins new orleans host committee to empower new orleans teachers

entergy joins new orleans host committee to empower new orleans teachers

10/15/2019

energy leader’s collaboration with college football playoff foundation to make major impact on local public schoolteachers

new orleans – recognizing the key to a skilled workforce is a quality education, entergy has joined as the lead sponsor in partnership with the new orleans college football championship host committee (nocfchc) and the college football playoff (cfp) foundation to make a major impact on orleans parish teachers.

“we’re thrilled to have entergy partner with us as we prepare for the 2020 national championship game,” said jeff hundley, executive director of the nocfchc.  “the men and women at entergy have consistently demonstrated a commitment to our community and we’re grateful for their support as we work to make a difference with the school teachers of new orleans.”

with the financial support from entergy, the nocfchc and the cfp foundation have made a multi-million-dollar commitment to the teachers working in new orleans public schools. the community support comes as part of the cfp’s desire to make a positive impact on each city which hosts the college football playoff national championship. new orleans will host the national championship game for the upcoming season on january 13, 2020. more than 100,000 new orleans residents and visitors from across the country are expected to attend a full menu of events for fans during the weekend of the title game.

“investing in a quality education is one of the most important ways we power life and brighten futures throughout our communities,” said david ellis, president and ceo of entergy new orleans. “by empowering our teachers, we are advancing positive educational outcomes and preparing our young people – the future of our great city – for continued success beyond graduation. entergy is excited to make an even greater impact on the lives of new orleans teachers and their students as the lead sponsor of this multi-year initiative.”

new orleans public schools serve 40,000 economically disadvantaged children, more than any other city in louisiana. in addition, 91% are students of color and 12% are students with disabilities. there are 87 schools and approximately 2,700 teachers in orleans parish with an annual turnover rate of 900 teachers (29%). until recently, student-achievement in the challenging and economically disadvantaged system had been on the rise. according to local leaders, the lack of continued success is a result of the lack of stability in the teacher workforce. approximately one in three teachers leave their jobs every year, and there is not a clear and focused pipeline from local teacher preparation programs to support the long-term stability of the workforce. given these expressed needs, the partnership will be primarily focused on teacher recruitment and retention in orleans parish. the goal of the partnership is to reduce this turnover rate by 5% by 2021.

“we are delighted to have a great company like entergy supporting our work,” said britton banowsky, the executive director of the cfp foundation. “through these partnerships, we hope to make a real difference in the lives of teachers and students in orleans parish for an extended period of time.”

for more than 100 years, entergy has powered life throughout communities across the southern united states. headquartered in new orleans, entergy safely delivers electric service to nearly 3 million homes and businesses across arkansas, louisiana, mississippi and texas. entergy’s top priorities for supporting healthy, vibrant communities focus on education/workforce development, poverty solutions/social services and environmental programs. each year, entergy contributes $16-18 million in grants from shareholder dollars to more than 2,000 nonprofit organizations in the communities where we operate. in 2018, entergy employees contributed more than 112,000 volunteer hours, generating more than $3.5 million in economic impact to our communities.

the partnership’s plan will focus on a variety of initiatives to create stability in the teacher workforce and to improve retention numbers:

• teacher recruitment coalition (nsno/universities/new orleans public schools)
  working with teach new orleans, establish a system of centrally coordinating the recruitment of qualified teachers from students at local universities (uno, xavier, tulane, and slu) and other teacher preparation programs (relay, tfa). new schools for new orleans will be the local leader of this coalition and should be able to demonstrate sustainability of the coalition for at least two years. the organization would be responsible for interfacing with all of the local coalition partners and the louisiana department of education.
• “go teach” project implementation (recruitment)
  leverage the cfp foundation’s new initiative, the go teach project, to support the recruitment and placement of student-athletes at local universities to become teachers in orleans parish.
• support for student teachers/mentor teachers (teach new orleans and new orleans public schools)
  evidence suggests that highly effective student teaching opportunities not only result in better prepared teachers, but also result in higher student-achievement and teacher retention. teach new orleans will coordinate with local universities and other teacher prep providers in developing a student teaching stipend program to assist students financially during their period of student teaching. the program will also involves provide financial incentives for current teachers who are highly effective in their work as mentors.
• teacher recognition (new orleans public schools)
  sponsorship of new orleans public schools’ annual teacher recognition event through the provision of grants to the teachers selected to be honored. timing is the end of each of the next two school years (may 2019 and may 2020).
• celebration events (nsno and new orleans public schools)
  with the support of local partners and produced by the cfp foundation, a series of quality district-wide celebration and other recognition events will be planned in an attempt to engage with all 2,700 teachers in the system.
• targeted professional development programming (nsno)
  in conjunction with nsno and other local partners, a targeted professional development strategy will be designed to support improvement in educational climate and overall teacher satisfaction in the district. this program may include efforts to improve campus culture for both administrators and teachers at campuses with high turnover rates.
• donorschoose.org investments (recruitment/retention)
  evidence suggests that when teachers get support, they are more likely to stay in their jobs. utilizing the donorschoose.org platform, the partnership will support the funding of projects in orleans parish, with special emphasis on supporting workforce diversity strategies. this will ensure that needed resources find their way directly into the classrooms.

the allstate sugar bowl and the greater new orleans sports foundation worked closely with entities across the city and state to construct the bid for hosting the 2020 college football playoff national championship game. other entities in support of the bid included asm global, the management company of the mercedes-benz superdome, the new orleans saints, the ernest n. morial convention center, the new orleans convention and visitors bureau and the new orleans tourism and marketing corporation, as well as multiple government agencies on the state and local level.

the event will be the sixth championship game in the new college football playoff format which went into effect following the 2014 college football season. it will mark the 29th time that new orleans has hosted a college football national champion – the previous 28 played in the allstate sugar bowl and the allstate bcs championship.

new orleans has long been a coveted destination for travelers and continues to collect an impressive array of honors and awards. in addition to being honored as north america’s leading sports tourism destination, the crescent city has been named the world’s best city (travel+leisure magazine), a top 10 city to visit (rough guides), a top 25 city in the world (conde nast traveler) and one of the 20 best places to travel in the world (national geographic), while a trip to new orleans was named one of the six trips that will change your life (coastal living magazine).

the college football playoff was established in the spring of 2013 to replace the bowl championship series, which had been in existence for 16 years and each year enabled the no. 1 and no. 2 college football teams in the country to play in a postseason bowl game. beginning with the 2014 season, the college football playoff ushered in a four-team playoff era. the format is simple: the best four teams play two semifinal games followed by the college football championship game. the semifinal games rotate among six current bowl games (sugar, rose, cotton, orange, peach and fiesta), while the championship is up for bid to any interested city. the allstate sugar bowl has hosted two playoff semifinals (following the 2014 and 2017 seasons); it will also host semifinal games following the 2020 and 2023 seasons.

-2020nola.com-