Philly Educator Gets $20 Million to Create All-Black Schools…And a Lot of Hate in the Process

With nearly 30 years of experience as a teacher and principal, Sharif El-Mekki believes something needs to change if Black students are going to succeed. He points out staggering statistics that demonstrate a lack of diversity in education and is on a mission to recruit and retain more Black teachers for Black students with his non-profit organization, the Center for Black Educator Development.

His work has garnered attention and millions of dollars in donations from billionaires, including a 1.4 million dollar gift from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

But while some think his work is helping Black students make positive strides, others have painted him as a radical who is promoting segregation. Let’s get to know Sharif El-Mekki.

West Philadelphia native Sharif El-Mekki credits his mother, Aisha El-Mekki, with inspiring him to pursue a career in education.

According to a biography, Aisha joined the Black Panther Party due to her experiences with racism and discrimination as a young person in Philadelphia. She said she was attracted to the party that was dedicated to, “feeding Black children’s stomachs and minds.”

Aisha eventually moved her family to Iran because she “wanted her children to witness a country united in its efforts to make a change.”

Now back in Philadelphia, Sharif, a husband and father of six, was a teacher and principal in city schools for nearly 30 years before he founded the Center for Black Educator Development (CBED) in 2019.

El-Mekki believes students benefit from having diverse teachers and argues that recruiting more teachers of color will help bring a unique perspective to classrooms around the country and enrich students’ overall learning experience. While higher grades and test scores are more immediate results, El-Mekki says the benefits last long after graduation.

“The Center for Black Educator Development is our model for rebuilding the Black teacher pipeline,” he says in a video on the organization’s website. “All students need great teachers. We also know that Black students, if they have a single Black teacher, their achievement will be optimized.”

El-Mekki has been successful in helping people understand the importance of his mission. CBED has received high-profile support from NBC Universal, Nike, the Bezos Family Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania School of Education. According to The Free Press, the organization’s resources total nearly $20 million.

But others believe his ideas are too extreme. According to Dr. Mika Hackner, a senior research associate at the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, El-Mekki is trying to introduce the idea of segregation in a way that is “more socially and politically acceptable.”

“He started up this organization, which on paper sounds like a really wonderful endeavor, getting more black teachers in the classroom,” she told The Free Press in an interview. “But if you scratch beneath the surface—not even beneath the surface, it’s on their website—he’s propagating some pretty dangerous and divisive ideas.”

But as El-Mekki told City Year, this quote from Angela Davis is the motivation behind his mission to improve educational outcomes for young Black people.

“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.”