The participating cities or communities in the Yale National Initiative include those with established Teachers Institutes and those that are considering the establishment of such Institutes . Each Teachers Institute engages the serious educational problems associated with low-income communities and a high proportion of racial and ethnic diversity. In New Haven the partnership includes a major private university that does not have a department or college of Education. In Pittsburgh the partnership includes a private university focused upon the sciences and a small liberal arts university that has a strong Education program. In Houston the partnership includes a state-supported urban university that has a college of Education. In Philadelphia the partnership includes a major private university that has a Graduate School of Education and that had already committed itself to work toward increasing access to higher education. These Teachers Institutes show that a successful professional development program in the humanities and sciences can exist in each of these institutional contexts.