In The News
Pennsylvania faces severe teacher shortage, calls for legislative action
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•Sep. 4, 2025The Southwestern PA - Belonging, Empowerment, and Mentorship Network
The Belonging, Empowerment, and Mentorship (BEAM) Network is a network of belonging and empowerment that is dedicated to support educators of color. By fostering connection and mentorship, BEAM creates the support systems educators need to thrive personally and professionally.
Who We Are
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that advance equity, opportunity, and student success.
In pursuing our mission, Teach Plus is guided by our Student Opportunity Mandate: All students should have the opportunity to achieve their potential in an education system defined by its commitment to equity, its responsiveness to individual needs, and its ability to prepare students for postsecondary success.
Why BEAM?
In Southwestern Pennsylvania, the gap between the diversity of our students and the educators who serve them is stark. While nearly 38 percent of students in Allegheny County identify as students of color, only 4.6 percent of teachers do. This disparity is not only about numbers, it’s about belonging, identity, and opportunity.
Research and lived experience confirm what many of us know to be true:
- Teachers of color bring unique strengths to schools and students. They serve as role models, connect deeply with families, and create classrooms where culture and identity are affirmed. Yet, far too many teachers of color face barriers that make their work isolating, exhausting, or unsustainable.
That’s where BEAM (Belonging, Empowerment, And Mentorship) comes in. Rooted in the SWPA region, BEAM is designed to build bridges of support and solidarity for teachers of color.
Through affinity spaces, mentorship, and leadership development, BEAM creates:
- Belonging – spaces where teachers feel seen, supported, and valued
- Empowerment – tools, confidence, and networks to sustain and advance teachers in their careers
- Mentorship – intergenerational support that nurtures growth and resilience
As one Allegheny County teacher shared: “We may be small in numbers, but we are mighty in impact. Our students need us and we need spaces where we can thrive.”
Rooted in the SWPA Region to Build Bridges!
BEAM is a network of belonging and empowerment that is dedicated to supporting educators of color. By fostering connection and mentorship, BEAM creates the support systems educators need to thrive personally and professionally.
Join the Movement to Support and Build Bridges for the Future of SWPA Educators!
The work of belonging, empowerment, and mentorship doesn’t happen alone, it happens in community.
- Educators interested in forming a like-minded community: Apply to join BEAM as a facilitator to join the first cohort to lead this work.
Together, we can close the gap, celebrate educator voices, and create schools where every teacher and student thrives.
What do Facilitators do?
- Facilitators are passionate about cultivating authentic, inclusive, intersectional spaces, to support educators of color.
- To support the goal of designing and launching an affinity space, Facilitators will receive monthly leadership coaching and bi-weekly cohort-style professional learning with other affinity group Facilitators to build skills, share ideas, and work through common problems.
- Facilitators fulfill additional leadership responsibilities, including affinity group participant recruitment, agenda creation, and monthly meeting facilitation.
- Facilitators receive a $1,500 stipend for their commitment in Year One and a $2,000 stipend in Year Two.
Who is Eligible & Qualifications to apply:
- Are you a K–12 classroom teacher or school-based educator in a non-evaluative role (e.g., counselor, social worker, instructional coach)?
- Do you work in a Southwestern PA public district or charter school?
- Do you have at least two full years of school-based experience by August 2025?
- Are you committed to racial equity and justice?
- Are you comfortable facilitating affinity spaces and equity-centered conversations?
*This program is open to all educators who share the goal of promoting equity and supporting teachers of color who also meet the credentials listed above.
For information contact: Dr. Aaron Johnson – Teach Plus PA Program Director, ajohnson@teachplus.
Want to Learn More About Becoming a Facilitator?
Click a date below to sign up for an informational session.
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