Box Tops for Education partners with Black Men Teach

Did you know only 2% of teachers in the U.S. are Black males? In Minnesota, the gap widens to just 0.5%.

To help bridge that gap, Box Tops for Education is partnering with Black Men Teach, a nonprofit organization located in Minneapolis with a mission to recruit, prepare, place, and retain Black male teachers in elementary schools.

Over the next four years, Box Tops will provide $500,000 to fund scholarships, loan forgiveness and programming to help the organization’s mission of increasing the number of Black male teachers in their eight Minneapolis-area partner schools to 20% by 2025.

“Seeing someone who looks like you leading the classroom has a lot of psychological benefits,” says Markus Flynn, executive director of Black Men Teach. “Representation is so important and powerful. Even for those who don’t identify as Black, seeing a Black man in that role helps undermine unconscious bias.”

This partnership builds on Box Top’s legacy of giving nearly $1 billion dollars to schools, which will continue through the core program.

“We know that inequities in education play a key role in the issue of systemic racism,” says Lilly Moeding, Brand Experience manager. “That’s why we want to extend our efforts beyond traditional funding to help increase teachers of color starting in our own backyard. That mission is only possible with partner organizations like Black Men Teach.”

Surprising Mr. White

Black Men Teach and the Box Tops team recently surprised Thetis White, a deserving 5^th grade teacher in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, with a loan forgiveness check for $50,000.