For 25 years, Christian & Small has been a dedicated advocate for our community. In 2010, the firm reviewed the various nonprofits it supported during its first decade and decided to concentrate on one organization capable of making a real difference. After interviewing several nonprofits, the firm determined that education is the true driver of meaningful change in the future—whether it involves economic progress, upward mobility, or business expansion. With this belief, Christian & Small chose Teach For America Alabama as their partner organization.
Teach For America has a clear mission: to find, develop, and support a network of leaders committed to increasing access and opportunities for students. These leaders start their work with a minimum of two years of teaching in an under-resourced urban or rural public school. These corps members are full-time employees of the local school district and must meet the same certification requirements as any other public school teacher. TFA alumni continue to advocate for their students in classrooms, boardrooms, schools, and across every sector and field that influences the broader systems in which schools operate.
In 2010, a small group of Alabama civic and business leaders came together to bring Teach For America to the state. In 2011, the first corps members were assigned to five counties across Alabama’s Black Belt, Christian & Small specifically sponsored five corps members placed in Sumter County. During that first year, Christian & Small distributed box fans for unairconditioned classrooms, provided calculators to high school juniors for ACT testing, and gathered prom dresses, shoes, and purses for high school girls after devastating tornadoes in April 2011. Christian & Small also made numerous class visits and hosted teachers for social gatherings.
In that first year, no one could imagine how this partnership would evolve over the next 15 years. Since 2010, Teach For America has:
- Impacted more than 100,000 students and partnered with 17 different school systems.
- Built an alumni network of over 400 members in Alabama, including more than 40 TFA corps members who have been named teacher of the year at their respective school or district.
- Achieved literacy and math score improvements in classrooms, with an average of 1.3 years of growth in elementary classrooms since 2013 and a 10% increase on the ACAP (Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program) last year.
- Achieved an average of 2.5 points of ACT growth each year.
- Recruited nineteen TFA teachers’ students to become TFA educators in Alabama, leading the next generation.
- Provided districts with tutors alongside classroom teachers. Since launching this strategy in 2024, they have recruited over 120 tutors to support more than 300 students.
- Increased district interest in partnering with TFA each year, with districts requesting additional professional development for their non-TFA staff. For the 2024-2025 school year, TFA offered school-wide professional development for non-TFA teachers, instructional coaches, and principals in their partner schools. The partnership started with three schools and has doubled in size this second year.
Judge Shante Owens with HASS students (2016).
Over the course of fifteen years, Christian & Small attorneys and staff have:
- Coached mock trials, exposing high school students to the legal industry.
- Supplied educational materials to classrooms statewide.
- Organized social events and welcome receptions for incoming corps members.
- Provided legal guidance for TFA Alabama and its corps members.
- Served on the Teach for America Advisory Board.
- Hosted corps members and students in their homes.
- Connected corps members and students with essential resources.
Looking Forward
As Christian & Small marks the conclusion of its 25th anniversary, it is proud of its 15-year partnership with Teach For America Alabama. Scroll down to take a look back at some of our alumni and see where they are now. We can’t wait to see what the next 15 years will bring.
About Christian & Small
Christian & Small serves a diverse client base across Alabama, the Southeast, and nationwide, including individuals, closely held businesses, and Fortune 500 companies. By pairing highly experienced lawyers with specific client needs, Christian & Small creates innovative, effective, and efficient solutions tailored to each client. With offices in Birmingham, metro-Jackson, Mississippi, and the Gulf Coast, Christian & Small specializes in litigation and business law. Christian & Small is a member of the International Society of Primerus Law Firms, and is a Mansfield Rule™ Certified Plus Law Firm. Our corporate social responsibility initiatives focus on education, and diversity remains one of Christian & Small’s core values.
No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.
Teach for America Alabama Network: Then and Now
Join us as we take a look back at some of our corps members over the years – where they began as TFA teachers and where they are now.
Bryan Billy, Alabama 2011 Corps Member
Executive Director, Teach For America Alabama
Bryan Billy has led TFA Alabama’s statewide impact and strategy efforts for 10 years. Before becoming Executive Director in July 2023, he served as Senior Managing Director of Strategy and Program Impact. In that role, he partnered with superintendents across the state to address strategic educational needs, spearhead innovative solutions and connect organizations and corporations with the mission to provide an excellent education for all students in Alabama. As the lead of TFA’s programmatic work, Bryan transformed Alabama’s program into one of the strongest in the non-profit organization’s national network. Bryan served on the Native Alliance Council for Teach For America and was a member of the Alabama Leadership Initiative. Bryan serves his community by coaching his city’s youth baseball team, serving on the advisory board of Small Magic and on the board of directors for Genius!
Ashley Buckelew, Alabama 2010 Corps Member
Principal, JS Abrams Elementary, Bessemer City Schools
Ashley Buckelew was a part of the TFA Alabama’s initial corps members, teaching first in the Black Belt, and then in Huntsville, Alabama for a third year. She then joined TFA’s Alabama Team as a Manager, Teacher Leadership Development (MTLD). She looks back on her time coaching 60+ teachers as one of the most impactful experiences in her career. She went on to complete her master’s in Instructional Leadership and returned to the classroom in Birmingham City Schools, before serving as the Literacy Specialist and Data Analyst at Legacy Prep. In 2024, Buckelew returned to the Teach For America staff as the Director, Alumni Impact. She currently serves as the Principal of J.S. Abrams Elementary School in Bessemer City Schools.
Phillip Ensler, Alabama 2012 Corps Member
Representative, Alabama House District 74
Phil Ensler 00began his career as a high school social studies teacher at Lee High School (now Percy Julian High School) in Montgomery. After completing his corps service, he attended law school and, upon graduating, returned to Montgomery, where he worked on social justice issues at Alabama Appleseed. In 2021, he was elected to serve as an Alabama House Representative, representing some of the same neighborhoods where his students live. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Central Alabama. He previously worked as the Senior Policy Advisor at the City of Montgomery.
Emily Heller, Alabama 2012 Corps Member
Teacher, New Century HS, Huntsville City School|
Executive Director, CAP & GOWN
Emily Heller came to Huntsville from Northeastern Pennsylvania with the dream of empowering students to read and write their way to a brighter future. She’s been teaching ever since, though in different schools, states, and contexts. Some of her most impactful teaching experiences include working at a Title I public high school in Huntsville, teaching overseas in Slovakia, and teaching at a charter school in New Orleans. She co-founded the CAP & GOWN Project, a college-access nonprofit, in 2013, and has since taken on the role of executive director. She teaches 11th-grade English, AP Language and Composition, and technical writing at New Century Technology High School in Huntsville. She is working on her Master’s in English at the University of North Alabama.
Mariohn Michel, Alabama 2011 Corps Member
Executive Director, Breakthrough Birmingham
Mariohn Michel, originally from Miami, was a high school social studies teacher in Greene County. After three years in her school, Mariohn moved to New York to serve as a Data Analyst & Assessment Coordinator for a school network. In 2018, she returned to Alabama to lead Breakthrough Birmingham, driven by her passion for educational opportunities for Alabama students. Today, Mariohn channels that expertise into leading Breakthrough Birmingham while serving on boards for Teach For America – Alabama and SAIL Alabama, always focused on making education more effective and accessible.
Freddie Stokes, Alabama 2012 Corps Member
Municipal Judge, Mobile City
Freddie Stokes began his career journey teaching at Westlawn Middle School in Huntsville City Schools before joining Teach For America staff as a recruiter. He then went on to practice law in his hometown of Mobile, Alabama before becoming the CEO of the Historic Avenue Foundation and director of the Fuse Project and being appointed to the role of Municipal Judge. Stokes attended Alabama A&M University and Samford University. He is an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and serves with NEST of Mobile and Books for Boys. Stokes focuses on revitalization efforts around housing, education and community wellness.
Teach for America Alum Across the U.S. Now In Alabama
Many Teach for America alums who did their corps work in other regions, returned home to Alabama to continue being advocates for students. Here a few who remain invested in education in Alabama.
Khadijah Abdullah, South Louisiana 2006 Corps Member
Vice President, Culture & Community, Shipt
Khadijah Abdullah is a Birmingham native and currently serves as Vice President of Culture & Community at Shipt. A graduate of Tuskegee University and the University of Arkansas School of Law, she also completed the Young American Leadership Program at Harvard Business School.
A former Executive Director for Teach For America Alabama and Metro Atlanta, Abdullah’s leadership has also been recognized civically—most notably through her 2021 appointment by Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin to co-chair the city’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Transition Committee. She has been honored by the Birmingham Business Journal as a Woman to Watch (2015) and one of its Top 40 Under 40 for the 2010s decade (2021), by Women We Admire as a Top 50 Woman Leader in Georgia (2022), and by Progressive Grocer as a Top Woman in Grocery (2024).
Her continued commitment to expanding opportunity is reflected in her board leadership with the Birmingham Education Foundation, Birmingham Promise, New Schools for Alabama, and Prosper Birmingham—demonstrating a career-long dedication to strengthening educational and economic outcomes across the communities she serves.
Tyler Barnett, Memphis 2008 Corps Member
President, New Schools for Alabama
Tyler Barnett is the chief executive officer of New Schools for Alabama, which is a nonprofit organization designed to support the charter school movement in Alabama. He began his career as a high school English teacher in Memphis, TN through Teach For America, and he subsequently served in the office of educator quality at the Missouri Department of Education and the office of innovation at the Illinois State Board of Education. For three years, he was the chief charter school development strategist for the Walton Family Foundation in Little Rock, AR, and prior to founding New Schools for Alabama, he was the state policy director for the KnowledgeWorks Foundation.
JW Carpenter, Mississippi Delta 2001 Corps Member
President, Prosper Birmingham
J.W. Carpenter began his professional career as corps member teaching in Helena, Arkansas. After his corps work, Carpenter earned his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center and practiced law for nearly four years in Birmingham. He then returned to Teach For America as the inaugural executive director of the Teach For America Alabama region and the Birmingham Education Foundation for eight years. He began his tenure as the inaugural president of Prosper Birmingham in February 2021. He serves on the Boards of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama, the Jefferson County Greenways Commission, and the Homewood City Schools Foundation. He is the proud father of Jack (12), Margaret (10), and Marshmallow Biscuits (2, a bunny).
Ruth Ann Moss, Mississippi Delta Corps Member
Executive Director, Small Magic
Ruth Ann Moss’s passion for educational excellence led her to start her career as a Teach For America corps member. After teaching for four years, she joined the staff at Teach For America Alabama to support and develop early-career educators. While at Teach For America, she was consistently ranked in the top ten coaches in the country. Currently, Ruth Ann serves as the founding Executive Director of Small Magic. Multiple Teach For America alumni have been a vital part of Small Magic’s staff and organizational growth. Under her leadership, the organization has quadrupled in size and been nationally recognized for the quality of services provided.
Emily Schultz, Atlanta 2005 Corps Member
Executive Director, Alabama Families for Great Schools
Emily Schutz is an Alabama native and has a bachelor’s degree in political science and educational studies from Carleton College, and a master’s in education policy from Stanford University. She is the Executive Director of Alabama Families for Great Schools, a nonprofit organization advocating on behalf of Alabama’s public charter school sector. Prior to this role, she led the effort to pass Alabama’s public charter school law through roles at the Alabama Coalition for Public Charter Schools and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Emily came to the Coalition from the governor’s office, where she served as education policy director. Emily started her career in education as a second-grade teacher at Cascade Elementary in Atlanta through Teach For America.