Tate aims to use his personal experience as a Leading Men Fellow to encourage other young men of color to pursue teaching as a career
Washington, DC, September 5, 2023 – The Literacy Lab, a national non-profit organization that provides children – in communities experiencing racial and economic inequities – from age 3 through grade 3 with individualized, high-impact tutoring, has named David Tate as its 2023-2024 Leading Men Fellowship National Education Ambassador.
Tate, a Milwaukee resident and former Leading Men Fellow, will be a leading voice in helping The Literacy Lab attract more young men of color to pursue a career path in teaching.
“I’m delighted to welcome David as our National Education Ambassador for the upcoming school year,” said Ivan Douglas, national director of the Leading Men Fellowship. “I had the pleasure of meeting David when he first joined our Leading Men Fellowship and witnessed the impact he had on the students in his classroom. I have no doubt David will have the same impact helping us encourage more Black and Brown men to consider teaching as a career.”
Black students who have at least one Black teacher in elementary school are significantly more likely to graduate from high school. However, just 2% of teachers across grades K-12 are Black men.
“Kids look up to us and they learn best from us just by being there in their face every day,” said Tate, who served as a Fellow during the 2018-2019 school year and is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education to become a teacher. “I’m honored to be named the Leading Men Fellowship’s National Education Ambassador. The Leading Men Fellowship is a life-changing program for both the Fellows and the students that they bond with in the classroom.”
In his new national role with the Leading Men Fellowship, Tate will use his voice to share the great need to have more men of color in the classroom. He will contribute to the Leading Men Fellowship’s advocacy and work to retain current Fellows, recruit new candidates, and build partnerships with school districts to help grow the program throughout all seven Leading Men Fellowship regions across the country.
The Literacy Lab provides students – in communities experiencing racial and/or economic inequities – with evidence-based, culturally responsive literacy instruction as preparation for academic, professional, and personal success. The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship empowers and equips young men of color, ages 18-24, with opportunities in the field of education by serving as paid Pre-K literacy tutors to help close the literacy gap within underserved and marginalized communities. The Fellowship currently has programming in seven regions throughout the country, including: Atlanta, GA, Baltimore, MD, Cincinnati, OH, Milwaukee, WI, Phoenix, AZ, Portsmouth and Richmond, VA, and Washington, DC.
For more information about The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship, visit https://theliteracylab.org/leading-men or email lmf@theliteracylab.org
About The Leading Men Fellowship
The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship creates opportunities for young men of color and increases representation in the field of education. Leading Men Fellows are young men of color who have recently graduated from high school and participate in a year-long, residency-style experience in which they provide evidence-based literacy support to pre-kindergarten students while receiving robust coaching and professional development and gaining valuable experience.
About The Literacy Lab
The Literacy Lab is a national non-profit organization that provides students – in communities experiencing racial and/or economic inequities – with evidence-based, culturally responsive literacy instruction as preparation for academic, professional, and personal success. The Literacy Lab partners with school districts to help achieve attainment gains by embedding full-time, rigorously trained tutors in early childhood centers and elementary schools.
