The Leading Men Fellowship aims to improve reading skills amongst children in historically marginalized communities, while diversifying the teacher pipeline

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, July 29, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- More than 100 young men of color from around the county are coming to the nation’s capital next month to attend the Leading Men Fellowship’s Ascend Training Institute.

The weeklong training, taking place Aug. 12-16 at Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland and American University in Washington, DC, prepares young men of color to provide evidence-based literacy support to pre-kindergarten students.

Built around the theme “Answer the Call,” the Ascend training also offers young men of color the opportunity to help close literacy gaps in historically underserved and marginalized communities, by amplifying the importance of diversifying the educator pipeline with more Black and Brown men.

Additionally, Fellows will be celebrated at the Leading Men Fellowship’s annual Ascend Brotherhood Gala - A Sneaker Ball Affair, on Aug. 15 at the Hamilton Hotel in Washington, DC.

“The atmosphere at our Ascend Training Institute and annual Brotherhood Gala will be electric as these young men begin to answer the call to service in education, with excellence, integrity, and care throughout their respective communities,” says Ivan Douglas, national director of The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship. “This annual training also sets the stage for our Fellows to experience opportunities for both professional and personal development throughout the school year.”

After successfully completing the Ascend training, with interactive workshops and presentations led by nationally renowned guest facilitators, education trainers, and dedicated experts, including Literacy Lab program and coaching staff, Fellows are empowered and equipped to provide early literacy instruction to increase kindergarten readiness.

Data shows the high school dropout rate is reduced by 40 percent when an economically disadvantaged Black male has at least one Black teacher in elementary school, yet less than 2% of all teachers in the country are men of color.

Black students living in underserved communities also perform better academically when they have a Black elementary school teacher.

“We know that children perform better in school when they see more of themselves in their teachers,” added Douglas. “The Leading Men Fellowship provides this opportunity to our children and our young men who deserve the very best.”

The 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 in underserved and marginalized communities. The Fellowship currently has programming in five regions throughout the country, including: Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Cincinnati, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Washington, D.C.

For more information about The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship, visit theliteracylab.org/leading-men or email lmf@theliteracylab.org.

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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.

Lernard Freeman
The Literacy Lab
+1 908-271-8554
lfreeman@theliteracylab.org
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