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Black Entrepreneur Experience
BEE 453 Black Men Teach, Markus Flynn ~ Innovative Thinker
00:37:05
Markus Flynn, executive director of Black Men Teach. In this role, he advocates for accessible and affordable pathways for Black men to become elementary school educators. Info:
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to the Black Entrepreneur Experience podcast. Inside the business buzz and brilliance of black entrepreneurs. Here is your host, Dr. Francis Richards, Innovative Thinker. Episode number 453, Innovative Thinker. Thank you for joining us as we elevate the black entrepreneur experience by interviewing CEOs, thought leaders, innovative thinkers and black entrepreneurs across the globe. I'm your host, Dr. Frances Richards. Our next guest advocates for accessibility and affordable pathway for black men to become elementary school educators as executive director of Black Men Teach. Welcome Marcus Flint.
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B
Yeah. Dr. Richards, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Looking forward to our conversation.
- [00:47]
A
Thank you. I've given our audience such a brief bio. Why don't you fill in the gaps and share with our audience what you'd like them to know about you and and the nonprofit that you work for?
- [01:00]
B
That's a great question. Me is simple. I did not go to school to be a teacher. I had a mentor who told me that if you can intersect your passion and your talent is how you find your purpose. And I remember being fixated on this idea at the time I was in school trying to be an epidemiologist. That's what I thought I wanted to do. I felt like that was the most influential way that you can impact someone's health outside of directly practicing medicine because it deals with these large scale studies, longitudinal data, and it had the ability to really influence policy. And I remember again, my mentor told me this. And I just remember while I'm in grad school doing this deep reflection on is this truly purpose aligned for me? And early on in that reflection process, I realized it wasn't. And so what I did is what I do when I don't really know the answers and I look to the numbers, I look to the data. And at the time, I was actually doing a lot of influential health studies that would make me reconsider the direction. For example, if you're looking at health data in the big studies, they almost always control for education as a compounding variable. Now I thought that was interesting because I figured in the big education studies, they weren't controlling for health. That to me, kind of made me start thinking, okay, maybe education is more influential or important in someone's life as a quality of life indicator than even health is. So I started looking at education studies and I remember seeing a study that said if you have one black teacher by third grade, a black student is 13% more likely enroll in college. You had a second one in that same time frame. That 13% goes all the way up to 32%. I remember seeing that. And I was like, that's unreal. Because nothing in that study said that these teachers were prepared with this methodology or they did this training or they went to this university. It said that these teachers brought their full selves to the classroom and it had this undeniable benefit on the long term outcome to these kids. And I'm like, that's the type of impact I want to have in someone's life because that's life changing. And so studies like that made me think, okay, education is where my skill set, my passions can really manifest even better than the work I was doing to help. I decided I need to be a classroom teacher. And even with that, once I made the decision to be a classroom teacher, I had to decide where home for me is. Chicago. I grew up just outside of the city and there was like a natural pool to come teach in Chicago. But I remember seeing two articles. The first said, these are the best public education systems in the country. Number one was Massachusetts. And then number two is Minnesota. And Minnesota is like a non education person. At the time kind of surprised me. I could see a reality where Massachusetts was really high given like all of the big name higher ed institutions there. Minnesota, I didn't really see that as much. So I remember looking in Minnesota. It feels like the very next article I saw said biggest black white education achievement gaps. Number one, Wisconsin, number two, Minnesota. And the fact that it was number two on both those lists just had me. I was locked in. I was locked in and I was like, that's the place I want to go to teach. And so when I came to Minnesota to teach, first thing I did was like, I need to find black educator affinity space. And so I'll hop on Google and I'm googling all of these things. I don't know what keywords I put in, but the first thing that pops up is Black Men Teach. Brand new organization. I'm looking on the website and it looked like at the time they really only focused on college students. So I'm like, okay, well I'm a classroom teacher. I'm no longer a college student. Maybe I can help. So I reached out and said, can I sit on your board? And had a series of attempts at conversations and really just came back and the answer was no. Okay, cool. So I come back a little bit later and I'm like, let me sit on your board as a non voting member. I'll convene a group of black male elementary school teachers. Because the mission of black men teachers all about elementary school so I'll convene a group of black men elementary school teachers to serve as an advisory council. I'll be on your board and I'll liaise the two groups so that the actions of the board, because there's no leader at the time, it's just this board founded and board led organization. But none of the black men on the board had classroom experience. I'm like, let me liaise a group so we can make sure that the actions of the board are in alignment with the perspective of current classroom teachers. They said no to that as well. So I came back again and I'm like, well, you look like you're doing this work in college. How can I help? You know, at the time I couldn't name more than maybe two colleges in the university in Minnesota. I knew the University of Minnesota and I lived across the street from a university called North Central. And so. But I'm like, I can figure it out. And so I asked them, can I help them build out their college program? And they said yes. They started contracting me when I was a classroom teacher. Then a couple months down the road, the executive director application opened up. I just decided to throw my name in a hat, having zero belief that I actually get the position. But I put my name in the hat anyway because I saw it. I was like, that's my dream job. And I'm like, one day I'll get that. And if I go through the process right now, I might have a small advantage on the competition down the road because I got a chance to see what the hiring process was like when other people didn't. So I threw my name in a hat just to see what the process looked like, never believing I'd actually get it. Next thing you know, they pick me up and here we are.
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A
That is amazing story. And what I hear is just your belief, your tenaciousness. And so tell me the importance of black men teach. Why isn't it just black teach or black people teach? Why is the emphasis on black men teach?
- [06:16]
B
That's a great question. It's a great question. So I think part of it we have to think about the elementary school side. So on the elementary level, 89% of all elementary school teachers nationally are women. And even within elementary, that number just increases. As you go up. As you imagine, the percentage of male teachers increases, like K through 12. As you go up, it just gets higher and higher and higher. So as you get to high school, that's where you're most likely to see proportion of male teachers being like Close to the proportion of women. But like in kindergarten, 98.5% of all kindergarten teachers are women. So you really do not see male teachers until you get to middle school and then high school. The problem with that is we have a saying in our organization that black boys drop out of fifth grade and walk out in 10. By the time you get to fifth grade, you've already disconnected. And one of those points of disconnect is never seeing someone who looks like you and can understand you to the same level as a teacher of the same gender. And so we're really thinking about two things at once. There is a lack of representation of black teachers regardless of gender. There's a lack of representation of male teachers regardless of race. And at the elementary school level, both of those things are really pronounced. And so the state of Minnesota is interesting because it's on the forefront of teacher diversity. It's been for a long time. They've had legislation since like the 90s to increase the proportion of teachers of color. Problem is, it's never been effective. So you can even look at the data. In the last 10 years in Minnesota, the proportion of students of color has gone up from like 18 to maybe 36%. It's a big difference. So you're talking about doubling the proportion of students of color in our public schools. In the last decade, the proportion of teacher color from that time has gone from like 4 point something to like 5% teachers of color. We're seeing that despite this being something we've focused on for the last 30 years, we have not been able to move the needle any significant manner. And so when my organization is really a proof of concept, because what the state has done and a lot of initiatives that have come up in the state, it really looks at teachers of color and non teachers as like the non, I guess, white teachers and non white teachers as the only two groups. Our organization says, yes, that's true, but it's incomplete. Within this group of non white teachers, there's a need for a very specific and tailored and targeted approach to think about how we're talking to black men versus black women. How are we talking to black men versus Asian men, Latinx men, and providing very specific and targeted and tailored approaches so that you can be like just really well adapted to your audience and helping support them. What I think our organization will do eventually is serve as this proof of concept of when you take that specific focus on a group, you'll be able to be really effective in moving the needle for them. Because black men in the state of Minnesota don't teach. We're talking about out of the almost 60, 000 teachers, we're talking about less than 250 black men teaching somebody less than half of 1%. We talk about the elementary school. Love you. Talking about less than 50. You could probably fit every black man in elementary school that's teaching right now in the room that you're sitting in. Like, that's what we're talking about. But given how specific and focused our work is, you'll see over the next 10 years, that won't be the case anymore. You probably see more growth within that segment of teachers than you see with any other group of teachers across the state. And the difference is there's an organization that's there, dedicated and focused specifically on providing supports and like, removing barriers for those men.
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A
And Marcus, how do you make impact daily?
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B
Just depends on how you look at it. I think we do it a lot of different ways. We have men who are in the classroom every single day. And I think having a black male classroom teachers one of the most impactful things that you can do for students. Because no one spends anywhere near as much time with kids as teachers do, not even parents. I mean, you're talking about eight, nine hours a day. So to me, that's tremendous impact. That's the reason I decided to be a classroom teacher. And I said, let me leave this epidemiology stuff on the side because I wanted to get in the game and be in an arena like that to that magnitude. But I think our organization also provides a tremendous amount of support to those men, making sure that it can persist. We do things like student loan debt relief. So we have a program where we're helping offset some of the debt that our men have. We have, like, professional development supports. We have mentorship supports, instructional coaching supports. We even have a partnership with Twin Cities, Sabotage for Humanity. We're helping men purchase homes. That program starting to kick off. We have our first guy who's approaching the home buying process now where he's about to purchase his home. He'd be the first one in our program to do it, probably in the next month, month or two. And that, to me, is as impactful as it gets. Every day he goes home as a function of the support black mentees provided. Then when he goes to the classroom, those children are being supported by the work of black men teach. So that, to me, as that scales up, will be real daily generational impact.
- [10:58]
A
There are so many brands and businesses that are dominating what is a brand or business that's dominating that you admire and why?
- [11:06]
B
That's a great question. That's a great question. So the first thing comes to mind is more in the non profit space. And so maybe not typically the answer you would get in the with this question, but I, I really love the Harlem Children's. I really do. To me, it's the greatest non profit that's ever lived. They take 90 square blocks in Harlem. They provide wraparound supports of the entire community. And in the center of this organization is a, a K 12 school. And in that school they have tremendous outcomes. We took our college men to see that organization a couple years ago because I needed them to believe something that without seeing it, it's easy to believe it's not possible. They take two things and put them together. They take a really high, like high proportion of black students and a really high proportion of low income students and they make sure they succeed at a high level. I'm talking about proficiency, 90 plus percent annually, math and reading. I'm talking about because it's K12, their graduation rate, pushing 100% every year. Graduate almost 100% of their students. I'm talking about their college enrollment percentage fluctuates between like 95 and 100% every year. And that school sits in the middle of a housing project. So on three of its four walls is surrounded by housing projects. And the only students who get priority admission into that school, because you know, charter schools, we have like demand that's higher than what you can enroll, you have to have a lottery system. So the only people who have priority entrance are the people who live in that, the children who live in that housing project that surrounds the school. And so given all of those factors, they still excel at a tremendous level, higher than most affluent schools across the country. And that to me is incredible. And it's a beacon of hope. It's a beacon of what's possible. I think more people need to see it and know it. That's why I'm like, make sure our men will, will regularly be in contact as much as possible because I need them to know that they can do the same thing. It's not easy, it'll take a lot, but it's doable. Like we have precedent for that type of success. Despite the environmental conditions that can surround a school in the setting.
- [13:08]
A
Talk about a teacher who really impacted your life.
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B
That's a great one. I got a couple, but I'm gonna give a non traditional answer. My favorite teacher of all time is Rita Pearson, the late great Rita Pearson. And she never taught me, wouldn't know who I am. But I got introduced to her through the TED talk where she says, I think one of the most famous lines that came out of that is just you can't teach a child if you don't, if you don't have a relationship with them. But when I became a classroom teacher, like I said, I had a non traditional path. So I had to draw a lot of inspiration from teaching, from the Internet. I had to look up and learn and had to catch up. I felt so behind. I had so much imposter syndrome when I first came into the classroom because I didn't have that four year traditional teacher prep program behind me. And I found Rita and I probably watched every single video she got on YouTube, everything from videos about classroom management to dealing with parents and families, all of it. But she was, she was a brilliant educator. I think almost as good as you can be. I mean she was amazing in the videos she has doing like there's a lot of snippets of her given professional development out you could see she was genuinely a master at the craft. And I took a lot of inspiration, just learned from her when I was a classroom teacher.
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A
And talk about someone you personally met your top two mentors or influencers and what lessons did they teach you?
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B
Yeah. So one of them was the mentor told me that if you can intersect your passion and your talent, that's how you find your purpose. That to me feels like the single greatest piece of advice I've received that I could possibly give because it did everything for me. It changed my life trajectory, but it also put me on a path that I never would have been able to predict. Like the work I'm doing right now, I never would have been able to see this coming. There's no way I could have imagined it up, but the only way it's possible is me really pursuing a purpose filled life. The other mentor, I'll say His name is Dr. Martino Harmon. He just turned I think 60 this weekend. The lesson he taught me was a little bit less explicit but, but he was one of the most relational people you ever met. I think he told me he taught me through his action the value of proximity to the people that you work for like on behalf and really like the power of like loving relationships and caring relationships. I think he, he was the vice president of students affair at the university I went to which had, I think I don't know, tens of thousands of people. But he had so much proximity to students still it felt like out of those tens of thousands of people, it felt like everyone knew him personally, and everyone, like, knew he cared for them. And there's something incredibly powerful about somebody who's in a position of authority, who just feels like they care for you and they're there in service of you. And, you know, as I become an executive director, I really do try to model that. I want every person, every high school student, every college student is going through our program to feel that my organization is significantly smaller than the capacity he was doing it at. So I feel like if he was able to do that in university, I think the class that I came into had 36,000 people, because I don't even know how many people at the university. But if he was able to do it that magnitude, I should be able to do it at the magnitude I'm playing it.
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A
Advice you wish you had followed?
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B
That's a great question. The only thing I can think of, because I do think, for the most part, good advice. I do listen. The only advice I could think that I got that was good that I did not listen to is from my mom. Unfortunately, my mom has so much foresight, and I think the problem with youth is the lack of. For, like, that inherent lack of foresight and the underestimation of how much you underestimate time. But my mom told me, like, stay in Spanish class, keep taking Spanish, and keep playing your instrument, even if you don't want to keep playing it. And I feel like when I think about where I am right now, I would love to have both those skills. And I do not. I do not. I don't have anything in my bag right now when it comes to music or language.
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A
You know, it's never too late.
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B
That's real. That's real. That's real. So maybe one day I'll get back on it.
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A
What is your zone of genius?
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B
Marcus, you mentioned before, when I was telling the story about, like, just the persistence with trying to get into black men teach, I really do think that one of my core strengths is, like, just belief and, like, this real conviction. And then I think I supplement that by having discipline, because I think if I can have a clear vision of something, I really believe in something, I have a skill of being disciplined enough to, like, really see it through over time. Like, I will take a longitudinal approach. I will increment something out daily, and I will get it accomplished for the most part. So I think, again, it doesn't feel like it's the perfect answer to this idea of a Zone of genius. But I think my genius is just this persistence, conviction, and disciplined approach to accomplishing something, even if it feels challenging, difficult, virtually impossible. You give me a Runway to it. I'll knock it out over time.
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A
Let's take a snapshot of the last 30 days. What was your biggest win?
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B
I think at the beginning of the month, we have a student loan repayment program. And in this specific program, it's a small one, but what it is is complete debt alleviation for classroom teachers. We had a really generous benefactor who brought that in originally in the first installation of that gift ended. And so in the last 30 days, we were able to renew that gift, and we'll have a new set of classroom teachers who have complete alleviation over the course of five years. As long as they remain in the classroom or at least remain in the profession in that program, they can move to administration. They can stay in education in different roles. But over the course of five years, no matter how much debt they have, we're taking it away.
- [18:42]
A
And they must remain in Minnesota.
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B
I think so. I think so. They got to stay in Minnesota. They got to stay in the classroom in some capacity.
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A
You mentioned your mentor, Dr. Harvey Harmon. Harmon, thank you for the correction. Is he aware of how you feel? Have you shared that with him personally?
- [19:03]
B
Oh, for sure. Multiple times. For almost every time I see him. And I haven't seen him much recently. It's been a couple years since seen him last. But he knows. He knows, and I'll tell him again next time I see him too.
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A
That's great. Talk to a younger Marcus. What advice would you give a younger you?
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B
As probably something like, you can do more than you think you can. And so, like, continue to hone this skill of, like, believing in yourself, because you don't want to put any mental limitations on how far you can go because you'll prove yourself wrong. You'll break past some of your mental barriers at some point. But imagine if you didn't have to break past it. Imagine if you were in this continual pursuit of someplace you think you can go. Practice the skill of believing in yourself, and you go far.
- [19:48]
A
I want you to have a monologue. I want you to name this person, living or not. They've impacted your life so much. Who is that person and what are you saying to that person? So you're talking specifically to that person and you're going to name the person?
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B
Yeah, first person comes to mind. First, second. And third person comes to mind is my mom. So to my mom, I just have to say thank you. My mom is. I tell people often, if you think about the archetype for a mother, like, all of the qualities you have in that ideal person, that's her. I think one of the most selfless people you can ever meet in your life was of the kindest people you could ever meet, like caring, nurturing. And so really, I just say thank you. It's just the person I am today is a direct correlation of the investment that you put into me. And I really do feel like my life is committed to, like, giving back to the community. And so I feel like through her, I'm a vessel that I've been able to do that just because of all the values she instilled in. Yeah, I just say thank you and.
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A
I love you and say her name.
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B
Shirley Stalin.
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A
Thank you for that. I want you to talk specifically to a parent. They're listening to this interview, and they're raising specifically a black boy. What advice would you give them?
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B
I mean, I love that question. I love that question so much. And it's something I'm literally thinking about almost daily. And I feel like I don't have the greatest answer at all. It's hard. There's, like, so many things that are going against us, like young black men. I don't even think about my own life. There's so many things that can easily deter you and set you down the wrong track. I think the most important thing is everything. Like, the foundation of raising a healthy child is love. And so, like, the most unconditional love you can give is so important. I think black boys, Black children have to be historically informed. You have to have a positive sense of self that honestly goes as far back as possible. I'm talking about, like, connections to Africa so that, like, the only understanding of itself isn't enslavement. Like, their history doesn't start there. And then freedom and then this violence and being subjugated to the white supremacy. Like, there's a legacy of blackness and, like, black contributions to history and society that, like, you need to know the first universities and libraries in Africa. You need to know that. You have to understand, like, there's things that go so far back and you just a branch of this legacy of a lot of things that have been great in life. So you have to have this understanding of history. I think black children have to have the ability to think critically and not just be fed and really be manipulated by the powers that be that want people to understand and think a certain way. I think a black child And a black boy in particular have to have voice. I think a lot of us grew up and it was kind of like it's better to be seen than heard. But I think like now it's important to understand that your voice has a lot of power and meaning. And even though you might say something, you don't get exactly what you want. But knowing that you were heard and you can advocate for yourself is incredibly important. I think you have to understand that. I think a black boy needs proximate role models. I think a lot of the challenge we see today, like if you go into a classroom and you ask a bunch of 5th grade black boys and as I did, what do you want to be when you grow up? You'll get a lot of NFL, NBA and this. And it makes sense because the people that are like really highlighted as these people that want to aspire to be like the LeBron James is and the Patrick Mahomes and all of these people, they're put on the pedestal that it is attractive and you want to be like them, but they're so far away. You need more approximate role models. And people who can like you should aspire to be like the dentist that's down the street who's got his own practice, or the brother that's doing community work and every Sunday is giving back to the people in the neighborhood some capacity or the pastor. Like you need that proximate role model so that everything feels so far away. I think they need to know that they can lead within their peer group so that they're not overly influenced like their peers who might not be doing the right thing because they're aspiring to be like some of the things that are just in the media all the time. Like everybody wanted to rap and do this and do that and do that. I mean it's, it's attractive, right? It's a reason. It's one of them most dominant and popular forms of media is attractive. I think you have to understand, like you could be a leader, you could be independent, you could do you. You can like that and still like this. You can also do poetry. You can do these things even though you might not be seeing those things. I think it's important to have as many experiences. You can make a well rounded child give them a lot of different experiences.
- [24:26]
A
Something you said, Marcus, that is so profound. You said raising a healthy child is love. How do you love the unlovable?
- [24:36]
B
Yeah, I just feel like no child is unlovable. You know, they always say, I mean, they say the closest Thing to God is a child. And so they come in so pure, so open and so uninfluenced. It's the perfect opportunity to just, like, give them. I mean, I feel like so many of us adults have, like, traumas and unhealed triggers and experiences that I think that gets in the way. Like, our shortcomings get in the way when it comes to the children. But for them, I think the one thing that they need, the one language that they understand, the only universal language that exists, is just love. Just like this idea of just no matter what they do, no matter what mistake they make, no matter if you told them not to touch this, and they still go and do it, and you tell them not to do, and they go do it again. Like, you still have to let them know, like, that wasn't the right thing to do. But I still love you. I think, like, that explicit, like, communication with children is very necessary and important. I mean, it has to be consistent, too. But then it also has to be backed up in action. You have to show them. But I think that's the only way to like, reach children. I think that's the only way to build, like, the right relationship with them. I think for black boys and like, young men, I think it's the one thing that's been missing a lot. I don't think we get a lot of that once we get to a certain age. I think a function of how we show up is a function of that, too.
- [25:49]
A
I want you to take us on that experience when they gave you the opportunity to be the executive director. If I'm correct, you're the first executive director.
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B
No.
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A
How did you celebrate that win?
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B
So I got hired in the pandemic. So it was not an easy time to celebrate really anything. And again, I had so much imposter syndrome when I got hired that I vividly remember the moment I got the email saying I got selected, where I got excited. And then probably within 45 seconds, I'm sitting on the ground like, well, they made a mistake. And I think part of it is because I saw this organization so much larger than it was at the time. Like, I saw where it was. I could see the financial statements. Statement. I can understand what it means to have. We didn't have a lot of money at the time, and so it's organization. But in my mind, I could see this, like, 2, 3, 4, $5 million organization. I saw this national organization just waiting. I saw it immediately, and I was just like, I don't know if I'm the person to take it there. I really was just like, whoa. I know imposter syndrome shows up a lot of different ways. I know some folk, I've talked to them and they say, like, it was debilitating. They didn't. They couldn't do anything for me. Mine turned into the exact opposite where once I got hired, I didn't want to leave my classroom right away, especially because it's a pandemic. I'm teaching online. So I negotiated where I was teaching and the ed I was part time with, both for the six months so I could finish out the school year because I got hired in January. And so my imposters didn't turn into this field where I just worked every day. I worked for those six months every single day, except one weekend, every day, Sunday through Sunday, just trying to get stuff done, trying to learn as much as I can, try to read as much as I can. Because I felt like I had to be somebody who I wasn't in order to do this role well. I had to learn a lot, had to understand fundraising, I had to understand org development, I had to understand the non profit world. I had to understand education better because I came from a non traditional background, understand teaching. In the process to get license, I didn't understand a lot. So I just turned into a workaholic. And so I never really celebrated. I was a little afraid at one point to tell people I got the job because I was afraid I'll get fired. By the time I started celebrating, I would be going. I didn't celebrate. I just went to work.
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A
What problem exists in the world today that you'd like to solve?
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B
I'll say one that I think about more, but I can't say I think about it to the point where I have a solution, but it's for. For kids. How do you close. I don't even like the idea of an achievement gap because that's. That uses white children as a barometer. Right. I want to figure out, how do you close the gap between, like, our children's potential and their performance? How do you get them where they should be, where they can be? That to me is where I want kids to go. And that's the problem I don't have an answer for at the moment. But I do. Think again back to the Harlem children. They're the closest thing to a solution. That's where the precedent lies. How do you scale that to a level where you can do that across not just the community, but across the state or across the country? That's more challenging, but they show it's possible. That, to me, is the challenge.
- [28:45]
A
And I think the answer is in the children. Yeah, I think the answer is in the children. What is your biggest takeaway from our conversation today? What do you want the audience to leave with?
- [28:58]
B
I think for the audience, the biggest thing I would take away or I would ask them to take away. Just thinking about how do you live a purpose filled life? Like, what does that look like for you? You mentioned to me, like I said that my mom really pushed me into music and into language and I dropped both of them. And your response was, it's never too late. I think the most important thing that you can do in life is live a purpose filled and purpose aligned life. And no one can answer what that looks like except you. And so for the audience, I would challenge you to think about what that looks like for yourself and then listen to Dr. Richards push. It's never too late. And what can you do to start moving yourself in that direction, to do that and to be aligned with what you see?
- [29:39]
A
And you shared. Marcus, your takeaway. Tell us your takeaway.
- [29:43]
B
You got me thinking about this question about black boys. I want to have a very like, explicit answer. I want to have something that is very tangible and not saying loving a child is intangible. But I want to even be more specific with, like, these are examples because I think people sometimes they can understand something conceptually and still not know how to act. And so now I want to think about it to a way where I have examples. I got a step by step guide on what you can do in order to do that. Because I do think the number one thing, I think one of the most important things that I can do just given like the work that I'm leading, my personal passions where I am like, personally is think about this idea of like, how do we help position our young black boys to be successful at a greater level than we're doing right now? And so I want to be able to speak to that a little bit more clearly. And you asking that question and like really making me think and just give an extemporaneous answer is like, okay, I know what I got to do now.
- [30:37]
A
And you know what, this is our first time meeting and I can tell you you are right where you need to be and they made the right choice. And I remember reading the article about black men teach and I said I must get them on the podcast just because of the mission and what you're doing. And personally I have an affinity and such a Love for black men and black boys. And I raised a successful black boy that turned into a black man who is a black father and a black leader in the community. So what you're doing definitely pulls at my heartstring. So thank you for the work that you're doing. If you conducted this interview, what is the one question you would have asked yourself? I want you to ask the question and answer it.
- [31:38]
B
Probably ask, what, Marcus? What does the work of black men teach look like? My answer would be is like, we. We do a lot. I think a lot of the mission is in the name itself. Black men teach is very clear, but the depth is not. We work with kids at the high school level. We work with students in college. We work with people in the classroom. And we're working with a coalition that has a mission in the course, over the course of the next 10 years to have to support every elementary school in the state of Minnesota that has a student body population where at least 40% of those students identify as black and support them to making 20% of their teaching staff be black men. So in order to do that, we need to have about 450 black elementary school teachers. And like I said a little bit earlier, we have less than 50 right now. So you're talking about a thousand percent increase in a decade. But it's necessary. But even the work that we do with that is not just about getting men in the classroom. It's about making sure men who are in the classroom are set up for success and are developed and they're practiced enough to really set our students up for success. And so we're doing a lot. We're doing a lot for those guys, including some financial supports, like I mentioned before, with a student loan, debt relief, sometimes retention, stipends. We're doing some home ownership work in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, and we're doing a lot to make sure our guys are set up for success with our high school students on the front end. We support them with getting them in a class in their high school that will give them college credit for taking a class that really introduces them to education. And then with the men we support in college, wraparound support, paid internships, mentorship support, scholarships to us experiences, like I mentioned, going to the Harlem Children's Zone, even sometimes emergency funds. When life happens and life just starts, life, and you need a little bit of help, we bring our guys together. We help them, like, practice to be teachers. So we work on their, like, skills as practitioners. And so the work is. The depth is a lot Deeper than people anticipate with the work that we do.
- [33:33]
A
What is something that you don't have that you need to move the needle forward? How can we support what you're doing?
- [33:42]
B
I think one of the most important things in order to do this work, especially at that magnitude, that 450 in 10 years, you need a lot of people to know about what you're doing. So I think one of the most helpful things is things like this, amplifying the message, getting in front of as many people as possible. I think the next thing is continue to build our team. I think we just need people who are dedicated to this work and are bringing their skill set and letting that lead them within the work that we're doing. So I think it's an all hands on deck effort. In order to get this up and running and going, we'll be able to do it. But got to make sure people know. You got to amplify the message. You gotta, people have to know who you are in order to understand. We gotta market in a way that's gonna actually make the teaching profession attractive to young black men. Because just as it is right now, it's not right.
- [34:25]
A
And I think that what you all are doing regarding that holistic approach, when you're talking about like the men that you're bringing in, you're ensuring their success, you're looking at how you can help them. You're not just being that financial piece, you're being that all around piece for them which is so important. You're looking at ways that you can actually support them in all levels of their lives so that they can be the best version of themselves and that they can uplift them. So I think that what you're doing is, is just uplifting from the bottom on up. And so the tide is just going to rise, keep rising and rising. And I think that you're going to exceed your goal in 10 years. I believe that.
- [35:14]
B
I appreciate you.
- [35:15]
A
We've come to the part of our interview, it's called Rapid round of Fun. I'm going to ask you some questions and I'd like you to give me very quick answers. If there's something you, you desire not to answer, feel free to say pass. Are you ready for the Rapid round of Fun?
- [35:33]
B
Let's do it.
- [35:34]
A
What is your favorite comfort food right now?
- [35:37]
B
Salmon.
- [35:38]
A
You relax. Doing what?
- [35:40]
B
Playing basketball.
- [35:41]
A
The last movie you saw, what is that called?
- [35:44]
B
Gladiator 2.
- [35:46]
A
Your favorite singer or rapper right now, Lil Russell. Your favorite dance song?
- [35:53]
B
Not dance. Wipe me down to Stroll.
- [35:56]
A
What food you eat every week no matter what.
- [35:59]
B
Chicken, your ideal car, some fuel efficient.
- [36:04]
A
Work out or hit the couch.
- [36:06]
B
Go work out.
- [36:08]
A
Marcus Flynn, thank you so much for joining us on Black Entrepreneur Experience podcast. Before we let you go share with our audience the best way for them to connect with you and to do business. To support and donate to Black Men Teach any of the social media handles. Feel free to leave all that information.
- [36:27]
B
Yeah, best way to connect with me is just go to Black Men Teaches website. You'll find my email on there. I'm Fairly Active on LinkedIn and so find me on LinkedIn. My name is Marcus Flynn. Should be too hard to find. And then Black Men Teach on Instagram is Black menteachtc and you can find us on Facebook. You just look up Black menteach as well.
- [36:44]
A
Thank you. That's a wrap. Thank you for listening and subscribing to Black Entrepreneur Experience. We would love for you to leave a review and rating on itunes and.
- [36:54]
B
Share with your friends.
- [36:55]
A
For show notes and more episodes go to www.beepodcast.com. join us next Wednesday. And remember, green is the new Black so keep your bank accounts and your business in the.