For nearly three decades, Breakthrough Atlanta has been a beacon of opportunity for students and aspiring educators across our community. Through our dual mission — placing underserved students on the path to college and inspiring the next generation of teachers — Breakthrough has created ripple effects of success that extend far beyond any single classroom. At the heart of this work has been a crucial partner: AmeriCorps.
The Department of Government Efficiency recently terminated approximately $400 million in AmeriCorps grants — devastating cuts that impact more than 32,000 AmeriCorps members and over 1,000 community organizations nationwide. Programs like ours are among those facing the consequences.
For Breakthrough, AmeriCorps funding has been transformative. It has allowed college students — Teaching Fellows — to take on hands-on, paid internships that prepare them for careers in education while serving hundreds of middle and high school students each year. The service stipends and the education award they earn help them pay tuition, cover rent, and continue their education. Without stipends from AmeriCorps, many of these fellows would not be able to afford the opportunity. AmeriCorps funding allows us to invest in the young people shaping the future of our communities.
We are now facing an urgent and devastating challenge. Breakthrough alone has lost over $355,000 in critical funding just weeks before launching our summer programs. Without that support, 70 college students may lose out on transformative career experiences, and over 300 students in Fulton, DeKalb, and Cobb counties could be left without crucial academic preparation and college advising.
This isn’t just a setback for one organization — it’s a setback for the future of education itself.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Across the country, Breakthrough Collaborative, the parent nonprofit to Breakthrough Atlanta, is one of the nation’s largest early teacher pathway programs, supporting young adults at a critical moment when our nation faces a teacher shortage crisis. In fact, 52% of teaching fellows across Breakthrough Collaborative go on to careers in education — a much-needed boost for schools across the country.
This work is more critical than ever. Interest in teaching among high school seniors and college freshmen nationally has fallen 48% since the 1990s, and the number of new teacher licenses issued annually has dropped by more than 100,000. Today, the proportion of college graduates entering the teaching profession is at a 50-year low, according to a 2024 study by the Annenberg Institute at Brown University.
In metro Atlanta, there are hundreds of teacher vacancies. Atlanta Public Schools was short 109 teachers, Fulton was short 108, and DeKalb was short 120, according to a local news report last year.
Three-quarters of our teaching fellows, many of whom had never previously considered education, choose to enter the profession after graduating college. In a time of acute teacher shortages, programs like Breakthrough Atlanta remain essential.
Additionally, EdQuest Georgia has set a North Star goal that 65% of adults ages 25-64 will have earned a postsecondary credential by 2033. Breakthrough students are bringing that vision to life, earning college degrees at twice the rate of their Georgia peers. Teaching fellows help make that happen.
We are determined to keep to our course and serve our students and future educators. However, this means that we must turn to other sources of funding, notably, private donations and philanthropy.
AmeriCorps funding has long been a bipartisan success story, praised for its efficiency, fiscal responsibility, and deep community impact. I know this firsthand. In 1998, I first served in AmeriCorps as a classroom assistant at Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta. That experience sparked my passion for helping youth, and I served a second term at Hands On Atlanta where I trained and matched volunteers with afterschool programs throughout Metro Atlanta. Because of AmeriCorps, I, like so many other alums, have never stopped working for our community’s youth.
Since 1994, it has empowered more than 900,000 Americans to dedicate over 1.2 billion hours to service, addressing some of the nation’s most critical needs — from disaster response to education. It embodies American values: service, opportunity and resilience. Cuts to this funding undermine those values and threaten the futures of thousands of young people who depend on programs like Breakthrough Atlanta to realize their full potential.
For nearly 30 years, Breakthrough Atlanta has changed lives — impacting more than 3,300 students and 650 teaching fellows. Despite the challenges ahead, our commitment to creating opportunity remains strong. Now more than ever, the work of our students and teaching fellows reminds us of what’s possible when communities invest in education, service and the next generation.
We cannot let this legacy be dismantled.
Here’s how you can help: Call or email your members of Congress and tell them you believe the funding should be restored.
Together, we can fight for a future where service remains a cornerstone of opportunity and where every student has the support they need to achieve their highest potential.
Monique Shields has been Breakthrough Atlanta’s CEO since 2018. She is a two-time AmeriCorps alum and has directed education-focused AmeriCorps programs for nearly a decade.
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