Servant Leadership:

Through listening tours with over 400 African-American male students, 65% state that they would like to be taught by more African-American male teachers; 70% say teachers do not see them for who they are; and 70% say they felt they were in trouble when they first walked in the room and saw other African-American male students.

Servant Leadership:

Our Servant Leadership Project included 25 area high school students of color who serve the elderly through our MIFA Meals on Wheels program and help our Band of Brothers distribute meals across distressed zip codes in the greater Memphis Area.

Alignment of Resources:

Over 90% of the Equity Task Force agrees SCS is building the will for Black male achievement and organizing the movement through the following pieces of evidence: courageous conversations, testimonies from young men, Project Stand, District-wide culture, increased community engagement, the proof of young men and consistency of messaging. In partnership with Peer Power, we presented the ACT Prep University targeting African-American males and solidified a partnership with Fed-Ex and the Boys’ and Girls’ Club for critical mentoring work.

Culture Building:

Eighty schools sent ambassadors for Implicit Bias Training to become “Equity Champions” for SCS and support schools in addressing the centrality of race and shifting educator mindsets and practices in schooling for our marginalized populations.

We launched the Secure the Chalk Educator Fellowship with over 50 African-American male educators who shared their story and reinvigorated the why behind the need of having more Black male educators in SCS.

Culture Building:

In SCS, we see academies as a transformative, emancipatory paradigm shift in the lives of African-American males. Our partnership with the University of Memphis African American Male Academy can offer timely and pragmatic culturally responsive solutions. Culture will always be a protective factor that will be experienced by students, parents, teachers and community in empowering ways that develop resiliency and academic success. Our African American Male Academy works to recruit and induct 8th grade students into a culture of inclusive excellence. Our students take Math placement tests to forecast where they are academically and help intervene for targeted growth. Also, Dr. Wright works on cultivating genius in every session to help groom asset-based thinking in all of our young men who attend the sessions each month. Read more about the Academy here.