The ecosystem of a balanced man.

A man's professional craft, civic voice, and total wellbeing are not separate topics. Together they make the ecosystem of a balanced man, and a balanced man is the most powerful force in education.

Summit mission

Why the Summit exists.

The Black Male Educator Capital Summit convenes Black male educators nationally to address the forces that determine whether these men stay in education, lead effectively, and live well. Organized around three strands (AI, Technology & Instruction; Civic Education; and Health & Wellness), the Summit treats a man's professional craft, civic voice, and total wellbeing not as separate topics but as the ecosystem of a balanced man.

How we got here

Chosen by the educators themselves.

The three strands for the 2027 Summit were not selected by leadership alone. They were determined by the Summit Committee based on feedback from the inaugural Summit attendees, research and data collected from surveys and interviews conducted throughout the year, and the committee's analysis of the most urgent needs facing Black male educators nationally. Every strand reflects what the educators themselves told us matters most.

Economic mobility is intentionally embedded within Health & Wellness rather than standing as a separate strand. Financial precarity is a health issue: a man who is economically insecure cannot be fully well, and the stress of financial instability compounds every other health risk Black men face.

The three strands

Three strands. One balanced man.

Strand 1

AI, Technology & Instruction

Leveraging emerging tools and high quality instructional practice to strengthen teaching, learning, and leadership.

Strand 2

Civic Education (Fighting Misinformation)

Deepening civic knowledge and equipping Black male educators to teach, lead, and advocate with clarity and conviction.

Strand 3

Health & Wellness

General wellbeing, chronic illness prevention, and economic mobility, embedded within wellness as a dimension of whole-person health.

Summit goals · across all strands

What every attendee leaves with.

01
Convene 500 attendees, including current Black male educators, aspiring educators (high school and college students), college and university professors, and education leaders, for professional development, brotherhood, and collective strategy, establishing the Summit as the premier national professional development experience for Black male educators and those who support them.
02
Deliver programming shaped entirely by attendee feedback, survey data, and post-Summit research, ensuring that every session addresses a need the educators themselves identified, while maintaining or exceeding the Year 1 benchmarks of a 97 Net Promoter Score and 100% satisfaction rate at double the scale.
03
Ensure that every attendee leaves with at least one AI tool or instructional strategy they can implement immediately, at least one strategy for protecting their health or building wealth, at least one framework for civic education in their school or community, and at least one meaningful professional relationship that extends beyond the weekend.

Goals by strand

How each strand serves the whole man.

Strand 1

AI, Technology & Instruction

Purpose: Equip Black male educators with the knowledge and tools to leverage artificial intelligence, emerging technology, and high quality instructional practice to strengthen their teaching, streamline their leadership, and prepare their students for a future that is already here.

1.1
Ensure that every attendee who engages with the AI, Technology & Instruction strand leaves with at least one AI tool or instructional strategy they can implement in their classroom or school within 30 days of the Summit.
1.2
Demystify AI for educators who have had no formal exposure, moving them from apprehension to informed agency, with a focus on how AI can reduce their workload rather than replace their expertise.
1.3
Showcase how AI-driven platforms can deliver personalized professional development and leadership content to Black male educators at scale, modeling the kind of innovation NABME is building through the AI-enhanced Athari Fellowship concept.
1.4
Address the equity dimensions of AI in education: who is building it, whose data trains it, whose students benefit, and how Black male educators can be active shapers of technology rather than passive consumers.

Strand 2

Civic Education (Fighting Misinformation)

Purpose: Educate Black male educators on the civic structures, media ecosystems, and information landscapes that shape their communities, so they can recognize misinformation, understand the systems it exploits, and bring that knowledge back to their students and schools.

2.1
Develop educators' media literacy and critical analysis skills so they can identify misinformation targeting their communities, and teach those skills to their students.
2.2
Connect the Summit to the Capitol Hill Fly-In advocacy day, ensuring that civic education is not theoretical but grounded in direct experience. Educators who attend the Thursday fly-in bring firsthand knowledge of the legislative process into Saturday's sessions.
2.3
Build a network of Black male educators who are informed, knowledgeable, and connected to one another as civic voices, so that when misinformation campaigns emerge, the response is not individual but collective.

Strand 3

Health & Wellness

Purpose: Address the full spectrum of what it means for a Black man in education to be well, physically, mentally, and financially, because the same system that depletes Black male educators professionally also undermines their health and their wealth, and you cannot solve one without solving the others. This strand explicitly treats physical health, mental health, and financial health as interdependent.

3.1
Mental health and general wellbeing: create space for Black male educators to name the emotional and psychological toll of the work without judgment, and provide evidence-based strategies for managing stress, burnout, and the unique mental health challenges of being a Black man in a system not designed for him.
3.2
Chronic illness and physical health: address the chronic illnesses that disproportionately impact Black men (hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and stress-related conditions) with practical health literacy, screening awareness, and prevention strategies that educators can act on immediately.
3.3
Economic mobility: reframe financial health as a dimension of overall wellness, with concrete wealth-building strategies (homeownership pathways, investment fundamentals, retirement planning, side income development, and debt elimination), because a career of service should not require a lifetime of economic sacrifice.
3.4
Wellness experience: deliver an on-site wellness experience (massage, mindfulness, decompression space) that gives educators an immediate, tangible encounter with what it feels like to prioritize their own wellbeing inside a professional setting.

Have a session that serves the whole man?

The call for proposals is open through Monday, December 14, 2026.

Submit a proposal Back to the Summit