Meet Martin Burt

© Epic, 2010

Prized for Creating the Self-Sufficient School

"We would like to consider rethinking all the programs that have to do with poverty alleviation and really start thinking about programs that deal with poverty elimination."

Warm.  If I had to use one word to describe Martin Burt, that would be it.  The first time you meet, he treats you like an old friend.  He can kick back, smile, laugh.  Perhaps its this warm presence that has helped him to accomplish so much.

After studying in the United States, Martin Burt returned to his home country of Paraguay.  Excited to put his education to practice, he soon founded Fundación Paraguaya to offer microfinance and entrepreneurship education to Paraguay's poor.

But it is his self-sufficient school that has won him global attention.  In 2002, Fundación Paraguaya acquired La Escuela Agricola San Francisco, a small agricultural school in Cerrito, Paraguay.  The idea was to try to make the school self-sufficient by selling the school's products and services to pay for the costs of running the school.  It was a daring experiment, but Martin hoped that the school could provide Paraguay's poor with a relevant education at an affordable price.  The amazing thing is that it worked!  Since 2007, the school has able to cover 100% of its operational costs, making it the first self-sufficient school in the world.

Today Fundación Paraguaya owns two other Paraguayan agricultural schools that are working towards self-sufficiency.  Martin Burt travels the world working with Fundación Paraguaya's sister organization Teach a Man to Fish to coach other schools throughout the world in their efforts to become self-sufficient.  He envisions the self-sufficient school as an important answer to the global problem of rural education.

Sources

Fundación Paraguaya Website
WISE Website 2009 Laureate

Schwab Foundation Profile

Social Edge Blog

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Martin Burt, an uncommon hero starts microcredit in Paraguay (Skoll Foundation)

Meet Wendy Kopp

© Epic, 2010

Prized for Founding Teach For America

"When people think the issue can be solved, it becomes a moral imperative to be part of the solution." 

As Wendy Kopp neared college graduation, she still had no idea what she wanted to do with her life.  Desperately, she started searching for job opportunities. Though she hadn't previously considered teaching, Wendy decided that she wanted to spend time teaching in New York City.  But it wasn't that simple.  She soon discovered that trying to figure out how to land a teaching job in NYC was like trying to get through a maze. This difficult process led Wendy to ask an important question: Why don't we recruit people to teach in low-income communities as aggressively as people are being recruited to work on Wall Street?

Wendy became convinced that many college graduates would be interested in making a difference through teaching if an effective teaching corps existed.  Passionate about this idea, Wendy devoted her undergraduate senior thesis to the topic.  In her thesis, she outlined a two-year teaching corps that would recruit, train, and place recent college graduates in low-income schools across the United States. 

In 1990, just one year after submitting her thesis, Wendy had raised $2.5 million dollars to officially launch Teach For America.  With the mission to eliminate educational inequity by involving top-graduates in the education process, Teach for America began with a  corps of 500 teachers working in six low-income communities.  

Two decades later, Teach For America has grown to become a widely recognized and respected organization.  Teaching corps positions are highly-coveted among college graduates: this year more than 46,000 people (including 12% of all Ivy League seniors) applied for about 5,000 positions.  Currently, Teach For America boasts a network of over 28,000 current teachers and alumni that are impacting more than 300,000 students each year. 

Sources

Teach For America Website

New York Times: Charisma?  To Her, It's Overrated

Good Q&A: Wendy Kopp

Economist Interview: Eight Questions for Wendy Kopp

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Wendy Kopp, 2006 McGraw Prize in Education Winner