The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship

The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship (LMF) is designed to close the literacy gap found in traditionally underserved and marginalized communities.

LMF works with young men of color, between the ages of 18 to 24 with a high school diploma or GED-equivalent, providing them with the opportunity to begin their careers in education by serving pre-K students as early literacy tutors for an entire school year.

Learning loss, precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with existing educational inequities required bold and immediate actions to thwart the widening literacy gap. GreenLight invested in bringing LFM to Atlanta to tackle these challenges in three distinct ways:

1. By closing the literacy gap through evidence-based, high-quality tutoring of pre-K students;
2. By empowering young men of color with financial resources and personal and professional development; and
3. Diversifying the teacher pipeline by laying the foundation for Black and Brown men to pursue careers as early childhood educators.

Research shows that Black students from low-wealth communities are significantly more likely to attend college when they have had at least one Black teacher. This is because students become more confident and approach learning differently when they are being taught by teachers who look like them. Using the SEEDS of Learning methodology, LMF helps build the confidence of young learners, setting them up for future academic success. The program’s data backs this up, showing that 87% of participating pre-K scholars grew towards kindergarten readiness from Fall to Spring.