Center for Black Educator Development (CBED)

History and Views

Center for Black Educator Development was established in 2019 with a goal of recruiting and training more Black teachers. The organization evolved to CBED from the Black Male Educators for Justice, founded by CEO Sharif El-Mekki. ¹ CBED hosts workshops, provides training, recruits Black teachers, raises awareness, and creates curriculum for schools. ²

The CEO of CBED, Sharif El-Mekki, has claimed that a hurdle to recruiting Black teachers is a history with white educators and schools of hyper segregation, disproportionate discipline of Black students, and diminished expectations. ³ El-Mekki has stated the lack of retaining Black teachers is due to the invisible tax of a hostile and racially insensitive work environment. ⁴

El-Mekki told EdPost that he agreed with the statement by 20^th century Philadelphia educator Caroline LeCount, saying that LeCount “told Philly leaders ‘colored children should be taught by their own.’ That was true then and it’s true now.” ⁴

Programs

CBED is working with the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Arcadia University on a social justice and equity training and mentorship program for students on “Social Action and Justice Education Fellowship” for future teachers. ⁵ CBED has issued reports on equity and social justice in education, has advocated for defending critical race theory, and demands teacher diversity be the priority in the recruiting and hiring of new teachers. ⁶

In 2021, CBED published a report titled “Respecting Educator Activists of Color” that provides training for individuals to examine hidden biases and prejudices, seeks parity of racial and gender identities of the teachers to the students, and promotes seeking activist teachers that understand racial justice and education are intertwined. ⁷ The report further states that every lesson plan is a political document and every classroom interaction is a political statement. ⁷ The report states that schools have too often served as incubators to “cruel and violent forces” that “sanctioned the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black and Brown people.” ⁷

The CBED with the United Negro College Fund offers the Black Teacher Pipeline through Black Educators of Excellence Fellowships that will pay for apprenticeships for high school students, assistance during college, and mentoring the first four years of teaching. ⁸ CBED also offers the Freedom Schools Literacy Academy, a summer program for K-12 students on left-of-center social policy and driving social change through a career in education. ⁹ Professional seminars for educators are offered by CBED with focuses on ways for educators to overcome their own privilege, recognizing and redressing bias in the education system, and drawing on students’ culture to shape curriculum. ¹⁰

Finances

CBED was granted tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2022. ¹¹ In 2021, the group received a $3.1 million donation from the Laura and Gary Lauder Family Venture Philanthropy Fund, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Spring Point Partners, the Walton Family Foundation, and Education Leaders of Color. ¹² In 2022, CBED received an unspecified grant from MacKenzie Scott. ¹³

CBED is part of a coalition of eight groups that received $9 million from the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation to add one million new teachers of color to the workforce by 2030. ¹⁴ As part of the strategy, the coalition is targeting candidates, lawmakers, and governors in state elections the next decade to seek commitments to pushing the agenda. ¹⁴

Leadership

Sharif El-Mekki is the founder and CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development. ¹⁵ El-Mekki also works as an advisor to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D). ¹⁶ Previously, El-Mekki was founder of The Fellowship – Black Male Educators for Social Justice. Prior, El-Mekki was a principal at Mastery Charter Schools from 2008-2019 and EdisonLearning from 2003-2008. ¹⁷ EdisonLearning had run several low-performing public schools in Philadelphia until it was dismissed in 2008. ¹⁸

According to an October 2024 article on The Free Press, El-Mekki attended a “Black Panther’s-inspired “freedom school” when he was younger, while his parents had been members of the Black Panter Party. A biography about his late mother Aisha El-Mekki, which had been published by the Philly Muslim Freedom Fund (PMFF) in 2020, claims that in middle school, El-Mekki’s family moved to Iran after his mother converted to Muslim and allegedly wanted, “…her children to witness a country united in its efforts to make a change.” ¹⁶ In April 2023 on a podcast, El-Mekki praised the Iranian education system, claiming the country, “produces more engineers and doctors, scientists, than many other countries. To be that small, but there’s such an emphasis on education and understanding” ¹⁶ while claiming the United States is, “anti-black and anti-intellectual.” ¹⁶