CINCINNATI — Now in its third year in Cincinnati, one program focused on training young men to teach children literacy comprehension has 40 fellows.
The Literacy Lab is a national organization that provides students in communities experiencing racial and/or economic inequities with evidence-based, literacy instruction. Its Leading Men Fellowship in particular encourages young men of color to become those instructors.
"I just really want to make sure that kids like me, kids not like me have the same space and opportunity to be great," said Markel Heard, a senior Literacy Lab Leading Men Fellowship fellow.
The two-week training program for 18- to 24-year-old men of color helps them learn the proper curriculum to teach children reading comprehension. This year, the first week is here in Cincinnati, and next week will be in D.C. for training with other fellows from across the country.
“They implement this curriculum in classrooms — specifically to help with understanding literacy, helping kids write their names, but making sure no matter whether they prepare to start kindergarten,” said Carlton Collins, program manager for Leading Men Fellowship.
Children in marginalized neighborhoods are more than four times less likely to enter kindergarten with school-ready reading and language skills, according to the Literacy Lab.
So come September, fellows will be placed in underserved Cincinnati-area schools teaching preschoolers from spring to fall.
“The progress was really the biggest thing for me because when I started a lot of kids didn’t know a lot,” Heard said. “So me being able to really teach them the language and me being able to teach them how to understand the language.”
A 2023 report from Policy Matters Ohio shows 95% of child care professionals in Ohio are women. The Leading Men Fellowship wants to change that, creating a pipeline so more men of color can become teachers in the state. With the hopes that more kids can see someone that looks like them in front of the classroom.
Senior fellow Isaiah Smiley knows the impact it can have.
"I had a teacher in high school, also a Black male who was, like, really, really influential to me, and I just really like being at school and coming back every day just to know that I will have a chance to actually learn something that I enjoy learning," Smiley said.
Now he’s become that same role model he once looked up to.
"Three of my kids from last year asked me to be their father," Smiley said. "I can to an extent, like I could be in this classroom for them every day, I can show up every day, it's really, really good for them to see that black male is in the classroom and is present."
