Profound Gentlemen

We host education retreats, virtual workshops, and conferences for professional growth and community support. Each workshop, retreat, and conference focuses on the development of personal goals, the pedagogical development for effective teaching and school leadership, and the access of continual leadership pathways. We instill all of these qualities into our educators to ensure they make a profound impact in boys of color. Profound Gentlemen's team has worked across North Carolina since 2015 to develop, support, and retain male teachers of color. For the 2019-2020 school year, we plan to support approximately 155 educators across the state. As effective educators, caring mentors, and successful male role models, PG educators will collectively impact over 4,650 k-12 students.

In the US, students of color represent more than 50% of K-12 classrooms, however, less than 20% of the teacher population reflects this classroom demographics. The numbers are even starker when examining black male representation in the profession who make up 2% of the teacher population. The absence of male educators of color in the class raises concern about the academic, social, and emotional development of boys of color. Numerous studies identify the positive impacts and importance of representation in the education field. In fact, students of color who have a teacher of color are more likely to maintain high test scores, graduate high school, succeed in college. PG was founded in 2014 by two Charlotte Mecklenburg (CMS) educators, Jason Terrell and Mario Shaw. Both Jason & Mario intimately believe that all students should constantly see positive examples of success and they also shared common challenges being a male educator of color without peers of a similar background to look to for support. Jason and Mario created PG as a space to have conversations about educational equity, student achievement and shared experiences of being one of few men of color in their schools.