Sands Donates $100,000 to Teach for America Nevada for Teacher Recruitment and Retention

Earlier this year, Sands donated $100,000 through the Sands Cares global community engagement program to Teach for America (TFA) Nevada as a continuation of its support for TFA’s teacher recruitment and retention efforts.

TFA Nevada is the local affiliate of Teach for America, a national leadership development organization founded in 1990 to find, develop and support equity-oriented leaders to transform education and expand opportunities for all children.

Through its programming, TFA recruits and develops a diverse corps of outstanding leaders who make an initial two-year commitment to teach in high-need schools and become lifelong leaders in an effort to ensure all children have opportunities to access excellent education. In the current

school year, TFA Nevada has 87 teachers in their first two years of service, and the organization works with more than 42 partner schools primarily in the Clark County School District.

The 2025 Sands Cares funding has been designated for TFA’s RootED initiatives, which provide developmental resources to retain and increase the impact of educators that directly affect schools, as well as ongoing recruitment to bring quality teachers to Southern Nevada schools. These investments are designed to bolster TFA Nevada’s 2030 goal to double the number of children in Clark County who are proficient in third-grade reading from 32% in 2020 to 64% in 2030.

“Making change in education can be hard, and it is long-standing partnerships like the one we have with Sands that move the needle,” Tim Hughes, executive director of TFA Nevada, said. “For years, the company has supported the recruitment, development and retention of educational leaders both at the beginning of their career and as they work to expand their impact. It is all starting to bear fruit – we have seen a great reduction in teacher vacancies and a steady increase in third grade literacy rates over the last several years. We are incredibly grateful that Sands shares our vision for a strong Southern Nevada.”

Support for Local Recruitment Efforts

A portion of the 2025 Sands Cares funding is supporting TFA Nevada’s recruiting efforts for the 2025-2026 school year with the goal of attracting at least 50 new teachers for Title 1 schools and 30% of them coming from within the state, which in turn will increase retention of these educators.

TFA Nevada aims for 90% of new corps members to successfully complete their first year of teaching in a Title 1 school and that at least 70% of recruited talent will be retained at the end of the two-year TFA commitment.

Support for Building Transformational Schools Pathway

Sands Cares funding also is supporting TFA Nevada’s Building Transformational School Pathway, which underwrites professional development and training opportunities for current and aspiring school leaders who want to create lasting change in their communities.

The Transformational Schools Pathway is providing 22 teacher grants, which support a unique blend of professional development, mentoring and practical experience that helps participants grow as leaders and drive meaningful change in their school communities. This development pathway is a critical retention program, as professional development opportunities for educators in Southern Nevada are limited.

“TFA Nevada has a solid vision backed by proven programs to attract and retain talented teachers,” Ron Reese, senior vice president of global communications and corporate affairs, said. “The organization’s positive impact on our public school system aligns with our vision of building a strong workforce of the future by ensuring academic resources reach the students most in need of influential leaders and educators.”

Sands’ partnership with TFA Nevada is aligned with the company’s focus on workforce development and helping build the workforce of the future through quality education. To learn more about the company’s initiatives in these areas, read the latest environmental, social and governance report: https://www.sands.com/content/uploads/2025/04/2024-SANDS-ESG-Report.pdf.

To learn more about Teach for America Nevada, visit https://www.teachforamerica.org/nevada.