KANSAS CITY, MO — Cornell Ellis and his team at Brothers Liberating Our Communities work to get more male teachers into Kansas City schools.
The numbers show the challenge he and his group face: Kansas City Public Schools have 245 male teachers and 69 of those are Black men.
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Brothers Liberating Our Communities want to change the narrative in the classroom by increasing the number of black men at the front of classrooms.
“Teachers that look like them, teachers that come from the same place as them, they can start to ask some of those tough questions,” Ellis said. “They can start to have some of those really identifying conversations to to be able to have them know who they are.”
As the Executive Director of Brothers Liberating Our Communities, he and his team are working to increase the number of Black educators.
Ellis understands the pay may not be the best, but the reward is great.
“There isn’t a lot of money in teaching but there is a lot of money in education,” Ellis said,” Even if you see yourself as a classroom teacher there are opportunities for you to take your expertise and make money off it.
Analysia Slayden, a high school senior, said there is one reason she is on her way to college.
“Because of my teachers, my Black male educators, for real,” Slayden said. "They become brothers and sisters and dads and uncles and they fill places that you never had before.”
BLOC uses connection, development and engagement to make sure more students of color see themselves in educators and help them rewrite the chapters of the student's stories.
“Students are seeing windows and mirrors," Ellis said. "They need to see perspective into other worlds through teachers."
To learn more about BLOC, go to their website at this link.
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