CHARLOTTE, N.C. — "For some of these students, I was the first Black teacher they ever had," Phillip Boyd, a teacher with Profound Gentlemen, said.
Boyd said the instructors standing up don’t always reflect the students sitting down.
"Many kids want to take my class because I am a Black male teacher," Boyd said. "Some students say they've never had a Black male teacher until the 11th grade."
Leaders with Profound Gentlemen are working to close the demographic gap by gaining a thousand members and managing to keep 90% of those men in the classroom.
"We are only about 2% of the teaching population but the impact we are having, especially on children of color, is incredible," Executive Director of Profund Gentlemen Dylan Holmes said.
"We have studies that can show when male teachers are involved in the education of those young male students particularly, it has an impact," Holmes said.
Holmes said kids are more likely to show up for school and engage when they're looking at someone who looks like them. However, most teachers of color leave the education field due to isolation.
"I was the only one in the main building for about three years," Boyd said.
Profound Gentlemen is working to fill that void through mentorship, conferences, and workshops, ensuring the men they’re not alone and empowering them to transform the next generation.
"We just have to make sure they know we are them for them just as much they are there for us and our children," Boyd said.
Contact Tradesha Woodard at twoodard1@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.