Black Male Educators Alliance (BMEA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to liberating students, teachers, and school leaders in an effort to transform the landscape of education across our country. Founded in 2017 with an original targeted focus on increasing the percentage of black males in the classroom in the State of Michigan, BMEA evolved with a mission to develop effective culturally responsive educators who cultivate learning partnerships and grow independent thinkers into change agents for their communities.

Early in 2022, Founder and CEO, Dr. Curtis Lewis left the K-12 space to leverage his 20+ years of experience with educating children, coaching and developing leaders, and researching and implementing best practices, to provoke change on a broader scale and transform the educational experiences for Black and brown children nationwide. Since then, BMEA has expanded its reach to schools in the Midwest Region as well as those on the East Coast, and recently to include an international Black male school leader in China. 

Although the reach has broadened, Detroit is Home, and where BMEA’s targeted focus lies. The commitment remains to develop Detroit-area Black school leaders and support Black male and female teachers through various educator fellowships and professional development opportunities through school partnerships. Conducting such initiatives and facilitating effective programming has resulted in the organization retaining 100% of the educators engaged in their programming, including those who previously considered leaving the profession prior to joining the BMEA community.