The Building Our Network of Diversity (BOND) Project is committed to advancing efforts to recruit, develop, support, and retain male educators of color. The BOND Project demonstrates its commitment through professional enrichment, mentoring, scholarship, and fellowship activities for educators across the country.
OUR GOALS
1. Recruitment
To advocate for increased hiring of male educators of color
2. Development
To increase educator capacity via professional development, presentations, and scholarships
3. Retention
To serve as a mentoring network for male educators of color that provides support and understanding of professional advancement and retention processes
4. Empowerment
To promote student and educator agency to disrupt systemic inequities and advocate for equitable access to educational opportunities
The “BOND” strives to create a sense of community that is cultivated through bonds that develop between members who include veteran teacher mentors and new teacher mentees. Interactions range from topics on teaching strategies, student engagement and mentoring practices to family life, sports and current affairs. It is likely that participants will discuss matters of race, culture, and its impact on their practice.
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The BOND mentor provides an empathetic ear that differentiates between a new teacher’s need to vent and a new teacher’s request for guidance on an educational issue. The mentor-mentee dynamic will provide a psychologically safe setting in which participants exchange information of all sorts. Mentors are motivated, in part, by a sense of giving back to the profession and a chance to demonstrate a form of leadership that is not typically exercised in the classroom.