Math for America (MfA) is a nonprofit organization, founded in January 2004[1] by American billionaire mathematician, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist Jim Simons to promote recruitment and retention of mathematics teachers in New York City secondary schools.
[2] According to Simons, he founded the program to address failures in the US education system to produce students highly qualified in STEM skills and knowledge, which reduces America's ability to compete in the global economy.
[3] He perceived the cause of the failure as low quality teachers, and saw that problem in turn as being caused by low salaries, lack of prestige, and lack of support and good training making the job unattractive to qualified candidates, many of whom could get jobs in lucrative fields like quantitative finance.
[5] By 2011 MfA had expanded to science fields as well as math, and organizations had been established and funded in San Diego, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Calif., Utah, Boston, and the District of Columbia.
[5] Each site was autonomous, with its own board, fund-raising, and programs tailored to address local needs, but all coordinated with the founding organization and received funding from the Simons Foundation.