Together We Rise: Bolstering Culture at the Teach For America 25th Anniversary Summit

• In Event: 3184 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 15. Culture, Cohesion, and Community

Abstract

In February 2016 Teach For America celebrated its 25th anniversary with a summit in Washington, D.C. 15,000 people related to the organization attended the various lectures, workshops, and the evening event. At this point in its history, the stakes are particularly high for Teach For America, as both academic and political criticism has gotten sharper, and application numbers have fallen. Teach For America used the Summit as a time to shift and reemphasize its culture through large-scale ritual, drawing on social movement techniques in order to increase chances for its success. This paper demonstrates how a large nonprofit organization shifts culture in order to keep up with the preferences and politics of its alumni base.

Author

• Emily Handsman, Northwestern University