Meet Dr. Diarese George | Chief Executive Officer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Diarese George and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Diarese, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
I have experienced racial isolation in education my entire life. I was identified as gifted and talented early in my K-12 experience, so I spent most of my childhood in classes where I was the only Black Boy. Fast forward, as an adult and former teacher, I taught as the only Black man in the school building for nearly six years. Everything that has been observed and documented about the challenges that Black male teachers face is true. I was the unofficial disciplinarian for Black and Brown children in the building, and expected to solve the various societal and personal challenges for troubled Black youth. In addition to that, I often had class rosters stacked with children with the most significant challenges.

These are all the challenges, among others, that push teachers of color out of the profession. It wasn’t until I was exposed to the education policy space that I realized teachers of color in Tennessee were not only absent from the decision-making process, they were unaware of it. I was selected to participate in three statewide education policy and advocacy fellowships during the 2016-2017 academic year. In every one of the Fellowships, I was either the only person of color or the only Black male educator selected. This experience was reflective of my past as a student and a teacher in my building. It was in those moments, the Tennessee Educators of Color Alliance was formed, and I committed to confront the teacher diversity pipeline in Tennessee by ensuring future and current teachers of color are supported and retained in the profession. I also wanted to build an organization that had an impact on civic engagement and participation among educators of color so that they can advocate for policy changes at the state and local levels.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We one of the few only organizations in Tennessee that focuses on supporting teachers from diverse backgrounds so that they may stay in the profession. The lack of diversity in Tennessee’s educator workforce is a detriment to all students, particularly students of color, who benefit academically and psychologically from having same-race teachers. With a state government that is committed to making the pathway to becoming a teacher free of cost, it is imperative that we attract and retain top talent from diverse backgrounds. TECA envisions a future where the diversity of Tennessee educators reflects the diversity of students across the state. We provide high quality programming and networking opportunities to support and retain educators of color across the state of Tennessee.

I am most proud that aince the inception, TECA has amassed over 4000 educators from diverse backgrounds in the network across the state of Tennessee, and over 600 members in our exclusive membership network that received tailored support and professional learning. TECA also successfully advocated for the unanimous adoption of the statewide Educator Diversity Policy, which requires every school district in the state of Tennessee to set recruitment and retention goals for educators of color in relation to the students of color they serve. Lastly, TECA’s programming has supported hundreds of educators of color and led to participants being retained in the profession at a 90% retention rate.

Started a grassroots organization is no easy task. I was desperate to receive funding when I started TECA. In addition to my full-time job at the time, TECA was like my second full-time job that I did not get paid for. I initially sought after local funding from foundations and funders in Tennessee, but I realized that many of them did not like the words, “racial equity” “structural and systemic racism” “racial isolation” “inclusion”. I would receive feedback on the language of grant applications that would suggest I needed to change the wording. As I tried to incorporate the feedback and make changes to my applications, ultimately it felt disingenuous and almost as if I was removing the anchor that grounded the foundation for our work. Needless to say, I did not receive much funding from Tennessee foundations (with the exception of one). This is what caused me to seek funding outside the state during the first four years. Sadly, at the height of when I transitioned to the role of executive director in 2020 after receiving a grant from a national organization, the world was publicly witnessing the racial violence and murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. All the foundations that told me no years before, began to say “yes”. And this time around, I was committed to not being inauthentic and I did not shift, change, or waver on the wording in my applications. I felt it was imperative that folks should grapple with this language in hopes of igniting a personal mindset shift.

Over the years, I’ve learned social entreprenuership is not for the faint of heart. It has it’s challenges, however, I would not change the experience for the world. The state of Tennessee has a teacher shortage. Between the five major areas across Tennessee, at the beginning of this school year, there were 1,064 teacher openings, according to each district recruitment website. Davidson County (MNPS) had the most at 371, followed by Shelby at 334. Knox County has 148 with Hamilton at 145. The Tri-Cities (Washington, Sullivan, and Hawkins Counties) combine for 66 openings. Those numbers don’t include support staff or faculty. Moreover it is even more challenging when we are speaking of the teachers reflecting the students. Tennessee is home to one million students and 40 percent identify as people of color; less than 15 percent of our educator workforce are teachers of color out of nearly 70000 teachers. The financial cost of replacing a teacher has been estimated to be as high as $20,000 for urban districts, putting extra strain on districts with limited resources that must absorb the cost of teacher attrition. We know that educators of color have the highest turnover rate of all demographics.

As Nashville becomes more racial and ethnically diverse as a community, its imperative that our broader workforces and industries do the same. TECA is trying to address a workforce development issue in the education profession that exists across all sectors and industries for organizations that believe in diversity and inclusion. It’s important that the investment and reflection in this work start in the first place where children gain exposure to professionals from different backgrounds and workforce diversity: the school settings and classrooms that they navigate the first 13-14 years of their lives.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have to give a shoutout to my mentor, Gini Pupo-Walker, and my friends and colleagues, Indira Dammu and Laura Delgado for supporting me in the early days when TECA was more of a thought in my head. I also have to shoutout my wife, Brittenee George, who was a consistent motivator for me to getting started initially.

Website: www.tneca.org

Instagram: @drdmgeorge

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diarese-george/

Twitter: @DiareseGeorge