Sharif El-Mekki, a veteran educator in Philadelphia, has a goal to entice 1,000 additional African-American men to show up to teach in the city’s public schools next September.

By 2025, he hopes to double the number of black men teaching in the city. To achiev this goal, he has launched the Black Male Educators for Social Justice.

Nationwide, only two percent of public school teachers are black men. In Philadelphia, fewer than 400 – or about five percent of the city’s teachers last year were black men.

El-Mekki’s organization has three goals: to hold period meetings of black male educators, to influence educational policy, and to expand the pipeline of black male teachers.

Philadelphia Schools Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. endorsed the plan saying, “All students need a diverse group of high-performing educators.”

Read the entire story from the Philadelphia Inquirer here.