Friend,

I’m in Florida right now, announcing a series of grants to help local unions across the country act on what kids and communities need, including addressing the teacher shortages and supporting innovative career and technical education programs.

Our nationwide effort to help students learn stands in stark contrast to the words and deeds of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other politicians who are driving teachers from the profession by seeking to divide parents, deny schools resources and shame vulnerable children. While DeSantis looks to ban books, Black history, and AP courses, educators are focused on how to help students with CTE programs, apprenticeships and community partnerships. While Florida considers making it a felony for teachers to have certain books in the classroom and tracking girls’ menstrual cycles—doubling down on culture wars—we’re doing actual work to meet the needs of each and every student.

I’m about to make this announcement live, and we need your help: Please watch and share it, so people can see that while DeSantis pushes culture wars, we’re pushing solutions.

Click here to watch our announcement on Facebook.

Teachers devote their lives to helping their students, and these grants will help them get what kids and communities need. We want every school to be a place where parents want to send their kids, educators want to teach and kids thrive.

These 14 AFT Innovation Fund grants aim to help recruit and retain educators, bolster CTE to prepare students for the future, and aid community schools’ work to build bridges between the needs of communities and the needs of students in school. This is our fifth round of grants since the start of the pandemic, highlighting educators and school staff’s deep commitment to innovation.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President

P.S.: For more information on the AFT Innovation Fund and these grants, click here.