Only 2% of the country's teaching force are Black men. A 2017 study shows having a Black male teacher decreases the dropout rate among Black male students by 30%. Now, a unique program is bringing Black male tutors into the classroom in Cincinnati to help improve literacy.
A new public-private partnership has secured $4.6 million in funding to train more than 100 young men of color as paid literacy tutors in local pre-K classrooms over the next five years. The funds will allow The Literacy Lab, a national nonprofit organization, to expand their Leading Men Fellowship program to Greater Cincinnati.
Joining Cincinnati Edition to discuss the program are The Literacy Lab's Leading Men Fellowship program director Ivan Douglas; Cincinnati Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Shauna Murphy; Cincinnati Preschool Promise Executive Director and CEO Chara Fischer Jackson; and GreenLight Fund Executive Director Clare Blankemeyer.
Listen to Cincinnati Edition live at noon M-F. Audio for this segment will be uploaded after 4 p.m. ET.
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