Volunteer Teaching Corps Brings High Impact Teachers to Inner-City Schools

Intelligent, mission driven and passionate are the best descriptors for members of The Volunteer Teaching Corps (VTC). This year, VTC includes a diverse group of 40 outstanding teachers hailing from universities across the country including Yale, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, Spelman and Loyola Marymount.  Two Corps members are newly returned from teaching experiences in Spain and China.

Current VTC teachers will be working with over 1,500 children from kindergarten through high school at 23 different schools across Chicago.  They join our network of over 135 VTC alumni who remain in education.  All told, this year over 5,700 children will be learning from a VTC trained teacher.  In our typical school, over 70% of the students come from low income families and qualify for free lunch.

The VTC is founded on four living realities that support our teachers during the critical, and often challenging, first two years in the classroom. 


Pat Birtoff & Tiffany Watson

Teaching as Service.  Corps members serve as professional educators engaged in the pursuit of excellence. They strive to make classrooms emotionally supportive and educationally challenging.

"My wish for my students is simply for them to understand what great beauty and power they possess. My students are the holders of dreams for their families, for their communities, for our school, and for this world. My students are brilliant beyond measure and kind without question. If I had just one wish, which would fulfill many possible wishes, it is that they would understand how great they really are."                                                                          
Pat Birtoff

Simple Living. Often, contemporary society promotes the belief that a successful life is solely determined by material wealth. Corps members learn the value of resources through careful discernment of personal, professional, and communal choices.  The savings created during each Corps year benefit VTC schools through scholarships for children in need, classroom supplies, and extracurricular activities. 

Faith-Based Community. Individualism and competition are highly esteemed social values in our modern culture.  Faith-based community offers an environment for reflection and spiritual development where Corps members find support with others who are experiencing the same challenges.

"Living in community has had such a positive impact on my teaching. I'm in a house surrounded by people very much like myself. They offer suggestions, support and most importantly laughter. There are moments to share your struggles together and laugh about mistakes."                                                                          
Tiffany Watson

Spirituality. Spirituality is the inextricable link that draws together service, simple living and faith-based community.

"ICTC teachers have contributed great professionalism, creativity, excellent instruction and deep love for children.  They have become the heart of our school.  We would not be the quality school that we are if not for our partnership with ICTC."
Brigid Miller, Principal St. Malachy