KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Organizations promoting diversity in schools across Kansas City are reacting to the shooting that injured 16-year-old Ralph Yarl.
Teachers Like Me is an organizations that helps recruit Black teachers in the Kansas City area so students can learn from someone who looks like them.
Dr. Trinity Davis, president and founder of Teachers Like Me, is a former Blue Valley Schools teacher and started the organization because she saw first-hand the impact inclusion has within a community.
"I was the only Black person the students had met personally," Davis said. "That opened a lot of conversation and bridged a lot of things between cultures that I think that we need Black teachers to be able to do that."
Davis said her goal is to help promote, recruit and retain Black teachers and that this shooting stresses the importance of having children learn from a diverse group of educators.
"It's important to have a program that focuses on bringing in Black teachers to be able to have some of these conversations that may be uncomfortable for some," she said. "It's just about being able to build relationships with students so that they can come to the teacher."
Tomorrow's Promise Today was founded by Mike Graham, a former school administrator, whose mission is to give urban school students the academic skills they need to succeed — with mentors that look like them.
Graham said the shooting showcases the struggles Black and Brown children continually face.
"Our kids of color are in a fight for their lives academically and within their own community," Graham explained.
Both organizations celebrated recent milestones — Teachers Like Me helped increase the percentage of Black teachers in Kansas City Public Schools by 1% this school year. TPT says 7,500 students have been impacted by the program since its inception and have seen academic increases in ACT scores and reading levels.
"We will get a win - it's going to take some work just like these kids have to put the work in in the classroom - organizations in our community have to put the work in to stand in the gap for our young people," Graham said.
