DMTI Fully Funded: Expanding Teaching Pathways for Diverse and Community-Connected Males
DMTI candidates dap during the DMTI annual retreat.
Grow Your Own Teachers Illinois (GYO-IL) is proud to celebrate continued funding for the Diverse Male Teacher Initiative (DMTI). The state legislature fully funded the program for the following year, ensuring DMTI can keep recruiting and supporting community-connected men pursuing teacher licensure in Illinois.
GYO-IL implemented DMTI with the goal of making teaching a viable career path for one of the profession’s most underrepresented demographics. DMTI pays for prerequisite teacher-licensure courses, books, and other fees for candidates. Students also benefit from personalized advising, tutoring, and living stipends. In return, aspiring teachers are expected to attend one-on-one meetings with a coordinator and monthly meetings with their peers to foster community. In addition to the cohort program, DMTI engaged 16 community colleges across Illinois this year, awarding grants that enabled these institutions to recruit diverse men into teaching pathways and enhance campus support for candidates.
The continued funding reflects the collective efforts of legislators—including members of the Black and Latino legislative caucuses—advocates, community organizations, higher education partners, and supporters across the state who championed DMTI’s mission to strengthen and diversify Illinois’ educator workforce. The funding will allow DMTI to expand access to teacher licensure pathways through mentorship, professional development, statewide partnerships, and engagement opportunities that support aspiring educators from recruitment through entry into the profession. "Maintaining DMTI funding ensures we can continue supporting talented, community-connected men as they pursue teacher licensure and prepare to make a lasting impact in Illinois classrooms," said Kenny Smith, DMTI director.
For current and future participants, full funding represents more than program sustainability—it affirms that their presence, leadership, and contributions matter. DMTI provides opportunities for aspiring educators to connect, grow, and make a difference in their communities while challenging long-standing stereotypes about who can lead a classroom. Jerry Hinds, DMTI program coordinator, worked tirelessly to raise awareness among state legislators of the program’s far-reaching impact. “[Without funding], we wouldn't be able to provide our candidates with the community they need to succeed, the community that makes them feel seen when in educational spaces Black and Brown men are often overlooked. They would've missed out on a lot of professional development and on learning the small lessons that play a huge part in future classrooms.”
DMTI candidates participate in workshop discussing their experience and journey to become a teacher.
““Having people who understand the struggles that I’m going through, who have been in my same situations and can assist me, has been truly amazing.””
Charles Edwards, a veteran and current secondary English education major at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, expressed his appreciation for DMTI by saying, “What I find even more beneficial than the tuition funding are the cohorts, being able to connect with individuals who have the same goal in life and are dealing with the same struggles. And everybody's able to relate to it.”
Tahj McLaren, a student at the University Illinois Urbana-Champaign who is studying math and minoring in secondary education, echoes Edwards’ sentiments. “The Diverse Male Teacher Initiative is a conglomerate of men of color who are seeking the same goal. Having that community to connect with, to relate to, has been the biggest thing,” McLaren said. “Having people who understand the struggles that I'm going through, who have been in my same situations and can assist me, has been truly amazing.”
With funding secured, the program can move forward with its goal of creating successful paths for future male teachers and strengthening the communities and schools they serve.
