Brothers Empowered to Teach

Our mission is to generate a pipeline of incredible teachers who mirror success for their students. We create transformational change, drive school cultures toward equity, and open pathways for Black men to become teachers. Our work is designed to directly interrupt the dehumanization of black men and boys and the school-to-prison pipeline while transforming systems to support opportunity and well-being for Black men and boys to access optimal opportunity and wellbeing.

Brothers Empowered to Teach (BE2T) has a proven solution to the national crises of inequitable student outcomes, teacher shortages, and under-representation of men of color in teaching. BE2T is transforming the face of the classroom by opening pathways for Black men to become excellent teachers through our unique approach to recruiting, developing, and retaining teachers of color. By identifying potential educators as early as possible, BE2T broadens and deepens the teacher pipeline. We believe that an 'early start' to a career in education does not necessarily mean a traditional one; it can include college underclassmen, retirees, or those seeking to change careers. BE2T has established a unique training program to ensure a cohort of teaching fellows with a strong understanding of childhood development and trauma-informed practice, high quality literacy instruction, and culturally-relevant teaching strategies. Through BE2T's groundbreaking work, the narrative around teacher preparation, the importance of teachers of color and what it takes to create equity within schools has begun to change.

Testimonials

This semester of my graduate program in social work , I am taking a non profit management course . Our instructor asked the class if we knew any non profit CEO's and I was the only one who had met a non profit CEO . She also asked us to describe them in one word and I chose " radical " . I chose radical because Larry puts the work that he does with BE2T at the front of everything he does . He is always networking , seeking new opportunities for BE2T and its fellows and showcasing true transformational leadership . I gave the class a brief synopsis on what it was like to work with a non profit organization and it felt great to be able to have some prior knowledge about non profits because of my experience with BE2T . This fellowship goes beyond helping the students that we serve , but it also serves us and molds us into the best professionals so we can showcase that transformational leadership to our students .

- Nicole Malone,
Sophomore Class Cabinet Activities Coordinator, Student Government Association