Black Men Teach

Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP). Most teachers graduate school with student loan debt, and Black men have significantly more debt than their white counterparts. This burden often leads men to leave the profession. SLRP pays off the principal amount of student debt held by practicing teachers over a five-year period. For fiscal 2023 fifteen men were directly supported by this program and approximately 390 elementary school students benefited from them remaining in the classroom.

Scholarships-In an effort to offset the financial burden their education, Black Men Teach offers up to $20,000 scholarships to its participants. These scholarships are provided to men who are active participants in our program and are paid at an accelerated rate over four years. The scholarships are $2,000 during the freshman year, $4,000 during the sophomore year, $6,000 during the junior year and $8,000 during the senior year. To qualify, students provide BMT with transcripts, confirming their class status, current course schedules, academic credits and fee statements. BMT offers these as "last dollar" scholarships. In the fiscal 2023, fifteen received scholarships.

Student Teaching Stipend - Student teaching, required to earn a degree and become a licensed teacher, is a significant financial burden for students. Because this activity is full time, for a period of 12 to 16 weeks, it precludes the student from earning outside income from a full or part time job. Therefore, many students leave the teaching track at this late stage because of this burden. BMT assists its teaching candidates by providing a stipend during this part of their education. In fiscal 2023, five student teachers benefited from this program as did approximately 100 elementary school students who were exposed to a Black male teacher.

This being the third full year of Black Men Teach with an executive director and paid staff, much of our program expense was focused on staff time acquiring partnerships with elementary schools, scholarship programs and teacher training programs, as well as on-campus meetings with potential teacher candidates, teaching high school classes introducing seniors to teaching as a career, and much more. In addition to grants in the three primary service areas, other grants included for men obtaining their teacher license through an alternative certification program and to leadership/instructional coaches.