100 men of color to tutor Cincinnati preschoolers in new program

Madeline Mitchell, Cincinnati Enquirer
·3 min read
The Leading Men Fellowship will recruit young men of color in Greater Cincinnati to be trained and placed in preschool classrooms throughout the community.
The Leading Men Fellowship will recruit young men of color in Greater Cincinnati to be trained and placed in preschool classrooms throughout the community.

More than 100 young men of color in Cincinnati will be recruited for a new $4.6 million preschool literacy program to serve city students, according to leaders of national nonprofit the Literacy Lab.

The Literacy Lab is partnering with GreenLight Fund Cincinnati, the state and other organizations to expand its Leading Men Fellowship to southwest Ohio.

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Its goal? To help combat educational inequality among Cincinnati's youngest students, and provide professional development opportunities for young men of color in the city.

“Every child deserves an opportunity to learn to read and to see themselves in their teachers,” Ivan Douglas, national director of the Leading Men Fellowship, said in a Thursday news release. “We’re excited to begin serving the Greater Cincinnati community, which has been so welcoming and collaborative in supporting this work."

Currently, the Leading Men Fellowship operates in Baltimore, Maryland; central Virginia; Milwaukee; and Washington, D.C. The release states Cincinnati is one of three expansions for the 2022-23 school year – the other cities to adopt the program are Atlanta and Phoenix.

The Cincinnati expansion is largely funded by the state. The Ohio General Assembly approved and Gov. Mike DeWine signed off on a $3 million bill for the program.

“We are excited to welcome the Leading Men Fellowship to Ohio,” Interim State Superintendent Stephanie K. Siddens said in the release. “The Literacy Lab has a proven track record of successful implementation with impactful results for both students and Fellows. As one of many responses to the continuing pandemic, this initiative brings critical supports into preschool for our youngest learners, aligned to Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement.

Cincinnati Public Schools and Cincinnati Preschool Promise will help recruit fellows to the program over the next five years, according to the release. The fellowship recruits, trains and places men of color aged 18-24 in preschool classrooms as literacy tutors.

Money from the state, the GreenLight Fund, the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation, Accelerate Great Schools and the Gladys and Ralph Lazarus Education Fund at Greater Cincinnati Foundation totaling $4.6 million will support the Leading Men Fellowship in Cincinnati.
Money from the state, the GreenLight Fund, the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation, Accelerate Great Schools and the Gladys and Ralph Lazarus Education Fund at Greater Cincinnati Foundation totaling $4.6 million will support the Leading Men Fellowship in Cincinnati.

Each fellow will be paid $15 an hour, receive a monthly transportation stipend, a uniform and a $2,500 scholarship, the release states.

“By recruiting young men of color to support kindergarten readiness, the fellowship brings critically needed representation into the educator workforce,” Clare Zlatic Blankemeyer, executive director of GreenLight Fund Cincinnati, said in the release. “Research shows that Black students from low-income communities are significantly more likely to attend college when they have been taught by at least one Black educator.”

Recruitment will starts immediately, according to the release. Program leaders plan to place 20 fellows in neighborhood preschools with the greatest needs at the start of the 2022-23 school year. Another 30 fellows will be hired the next school year, then 40 new fellows will join in each of the two subsequent years after that.

For more information on the Leading Men Fellowship program, visit The Literacy Lab's website.

Other partners include the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation, Accelerate Great Schools and the Gladys and Ralph Lazarus Education Fund at Greater Cincinnati Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Leading Men Fellowship coming to Greater Cincinnati