Partner Spotlight: Literacy Lab and Leading Men Fellowship

SecureFutures is excited about another new partnership with a community-based organization changing lives in southeastern Wisconsin. Literacy Lab was founded in 2009 in Washington D.C. with a focus on tackling the literacy gap among low income students. Five years ago, the organization created the Leading Men Fellowship, a program that engages young men of color as early literacy tutors. The program is now active in several cities across the country.

Bernard Rahming, the Program Manager for Leading Men Fellowship in Milwaukee, explained that the program has a dual purpose. “We’re not only working on literacy — we’re working on how to diversify the education pipeline and get young men of color into classrooms,” he said.

As Literacy Lab Fellows, young men of color aged 18-24 spend a year working as literacy coaches in kindergarten classrooms. They are paid a full wage as well as a communication and transportation stipend, and receive a higher education award toward college expenses. Literacy Lab also partners with MATC so that Fellows can receive college credit towards their associate’s degree in education.

In addition to their work as coaches, Fellows are offered opportunities for personal and professional development, covering topics from career guidance to health to civic engagement. That’s where Money Sense comes in. 

“In all these topics, I try to bring in experts, community partners who can provide more information and resources,” Bernard said. “I see it as an opportunity to connect the young men to resources or to people. We heard about SecureFutures and it seemed like a great partnership.”

Although SecureFutures programs are generally geared towards high school students, Bernard says the content continues to be relevant to students in the years immediately following high school graduation.

“For a lot of these guys, it’s their first professional job. The program is like a gap year, where they get to work on those life skills that we don’t necessarily learn in K-12,” said Bernard. “When you get out of high school, it’s like ‘alright, I’m an adult – what does that mean, what do I do?’ We’ve all been there. Instead of taking five or ten years to learn by trial and error, it’s been great to provide this kind of support. SecureFutures has been a great fit.”

Chris Coleman, who delivered the Money Sense program to the Literacy Lab group, was originally connected to SecureFutures through the African American Employee Resource Group at Northwestern Mutual and has been a Money Sense volunteer for four years. He said the experience of working with the Leading Men Fellows was “fantastic.”

“I just had great experiences interacting with the students on the call,” Chris said. “They’re very attentive and just getting some of the questions and feedback and participation was great.”

Bernard said he appreciated having a volunteer who was both a professional in the financial sector and a man of color. 

“Chris was great. Having that expert there to answer questions — that was the best part,” said Bernard. “They got to see him as a mentor. That’s what they are when they go into the classrooms — they are Black male role models for the young kindergarten kids, so for them to see other mentors in different spaces was really awesome.”

“It really made my day when I would go on the line and chat with the students, to see not only what they learned but how they carry themselves,” said Chris. “It seems like they’ve done a lot in terms of overall development and professionalism. They’re doing a lot of good in the community.”