TFAE Celebrates 30 Years

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Since its inception in 1991, the Terrebonne Foundation for Academic Excellence in Public Education (TFAE) has committed itself to promoting academic excellence in public education in Terrebonne Parish. Now with 30 years of funding under its belt, TFAE takes pride in the opportunities the foundation has created for local students.


“Education is crucial for any community and for the residents of the community. The better educated your populous, the better the community is, and I think a lot of people realize that and have also been supportive over the years,” founding board member Ken Trahan says.

TFAE was founded after the Council for a Better Louisiana gave a presentation on the importance of having an educational advancement foundation in a community at a Houma Chamber of Commerce meeting in 1990. Several community members, including founding members Trahan and Danny Walker, took interest in the idea of creating such an organization for Terrebonne Parish and began to pursue it. By 1991, TFAE was officially born.

“The community has long supported TFAE, and in return, our organization has been able to have an incredible impact on the education and lives of students for 30 years. We look forward to working with local businesses, individuals and educators to continue this success for generations to come,” Director Katie Portier says.


Two years after the organization was officially chartered, TFAE announced its Endowment Campaign, which immediately received a $15,000 investment from the Houma Rotary Club and a $7,500 investment from Community Coffee. That same year, TFAE set its goal to raise a $2 million endowment, totaling $100 for every child in Terrebonne Parish, dedicated to aiding local education.

A few years later, TFAE held its first 5k Run for Excellence, which would go on to become a longstanding event for both the organization and Terrebonne Parish.

By 2004, TFAE had already provided over $100,000 in funding to local public schools.


The organization welcomed Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Terrebonne Parish in 2012, which served to provide children with a free book every month until their fifth birthday. Seven years later, it launched its first Girls Who Code Camp in conjunction with Chevron.

Now, TFAE has provided over $1.2 million in grants to local public school teachers and has seen over 270,000 books reach the hands of children in Terrebonne Parish through the Imagination Library.

“[TFAE] touched a cord in the people of the parish of the importance of public education,” Walker says. “Something that has a permanent, lasting benefit for the parish because the endowment is perpetual. We never spend more than 30 percent of the earnings, so it’s on track to grow, so that in a number of years, we could have a $20 to $30 million endowment.”


TFAE is thankful for the support it has received from the community over the years. With only $85,000 left to raise, TFAE is hoping to continue that momentum and reach its $2 million goal as it celebrates its 30th anniversary this school year.

“The value that endowment will bring to the foundation is the opportunity to further what can be done for the students in the Terrebonne Parish public school system,” Yolanda Trahan, TFAE’s first director, says. “The awards that were made, have been made and will continue to be made, we hope will only continue to grow.”