Teachers Like Me

What Teachers Like Me does

Teachers Like Me is a Kansas City, Missouri-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2020 by Dr. Trinity Davis, a former teacher, coach, Associate Professor, and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum with 24 years in education. The organization pursues a three-part mission to Recruit, Develop, and Retain Black teachers in Kansas City public schools, addressing the statistic that only 2% of US teachers are Black males. Its core program portfolio comprises five service lines: (1) The School Zone, an affordable teacher village housing initiative with the first duplex completed in 2023 and a capital campaign underway for four additional duplexes; (2) recruitment services offering signing bonuses, relocation fees, and scholarships to college-of-education graduates and high school students; (3) professional development and instructional coaching with a culturally responsive pedagogy focus; (4) retention bonuses and ongoing support to keep teachers in their schools; and (5) cohort-based fundraising pages enabling supporters to direct donations to specific teacher cohorts. Operations are run by a core team of approximately 4-5 staff members, supported by a seven-person Board of Directors.

The business model is donation-driven rather than transactional. Revenue streams include individual donations (campaign tiers of $10, $25, $50, and $100 per cohort; a 'We Love Teachers' campaign targeting 500 donors at $20-$200), a 2023-24 capital campaign for teacher housing, and low-margin merchandise sales (T-shirts $25, backpacks $35, tumblers $12, drawstring bags $11) via an e-commerce storefront. Distribution is direct: donations are collected through the website and by mail, merchandise through an online store, and teacher recruitment through a Microsoft Forms application. The go-to-market is community-led, relying on partnerships with universities, the Kansas City Public Schools hiring pipeline, social media presence, email newsletters, and earned media in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Next City, and Voyage KC. There is no proprietary technology platform; the operating stack is a Wix website plus standard form and donation tools, consistent with a small nonprofit model.

Name

Teachers Like Me

Legal name

Teachers Like Me

Website

https://teacherslikeme.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Teachers Like Me is a Kansas City-based nonprofit founded in 2020 that recruits, develops, and retains Black teachers for urban public schools through cohort programs, affordable teacher housing, financial incentives, and culturally responsive professional development.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Nonprofit Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

K–12 Support & School Improvement Nonprofits (BPAGADAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Secondary & Subject-Area Teacher Preparation Programs (STEM, Humanities, etc.) (EDAHAFAH)

Keywords

• Teacher recruitment services
• Educator professional development
• Affordable teacher housing
• Teacher retention programs
• Nonprofit education support

Headquarters

HQ city

Kansas City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Fundraising: The organization relies primarily on donations from individuals and organizations. The 'We Love Teachers' campaign aims to recruit 500 donors contributing $20-$200 each. Cohort fundraising campaigns allow supporters to donate to specific teacher cohorts with donation tiers at $10, $25, $50, and $100 levels.
2. Merchandise Sales: Sale of branded merchandise including T-shirts ($25), backpacks ($35), tumblers ($12), and drawstring bags ($11). Products feature the Teachers Like Me logo and support the mission.
3. Capital Campaign for Housing: 2023-24 Capital Campaign to build four duplexes for teacher housing. Donors can invest through various donation packages to support the construction of teacher dwellings.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Teachers Like Me is a Kansas City-based nonprofit that recruits, develops, and retains Black teachers for Kansas City-area public schools. It supports recruited teachers through financial incentives (signing bonuses, relocation fees, scholarships, retention bonuses), affordable housing via its School Zone teacher-village initiative with three-year affordable rent terms, and culturally responsive professional development and instructional coaching. The organization supplements program funding through branded merchandise sales, tiered cohort donation campaigns, and a capital campaign to build additional teacher housing duplexes.

Product overview

Teachers Like Me operates as a nonprofit with a platform structure combining core educator support services with merchandise products. The core services include: (1) The School Zone housing program providing affordable teacher village accommodations, (2) Recruitment Services with incentives like signing bonuses and scholarships, (3) Professional Development with culturally responsive pedagogy training, and (4) Retention Support with annual bonuses. Supporting the mission, the organization sells branded merchandise including T-shirts, backpacks, tumblers, and drawstring bags. Additionally, cohort-based fundraising campaigns offer donation products at multiple price points ($10-$100) that supporters can direct to specific cohorts. The portfolio centers on the three-part mission of Recruit, Develop, and Retain Black teachers in Kansas City public education.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The School Zone Housing Program Affordable housing initiative providing teacher-village accommodations for Black teachers recruited from outside Kansas City, with three-year affordable rent terms paired with financial empowerment education and home-ownership support.
• Teacher Recruitment Services Recruitment program targeting college of education graduates and high school students pursuing education degrees, offering signing bonuses, relocation fees, scholarships, and housing support to bring Black teachers into Kansas City urban schools.
• Professional Development Services Instructional coaching and professional development with a culturally responsive pedagogy focus, providing ongoing support to improve teaching practices for participating Black educators.
• Retention Support Program Retention bonuses for teachers remaining in their school and/or district, combined with ongoing support services to address teacher needs and ensure continued employment in Kansas City public schools.
• Teachers Like Me T-Shirt
• TLM Backpack (Charcoal Gray) Durable charcoal gray backpack with adjustable padded straps and the Teachers Like Me logo, priced at $35, designed for educators and students to carry essentials.
• Teachers Like Me 12 oz Black Tumbler Double-wall insulated matte black 12 oz tumbler with the Teachers Like Me logo, priced at $12, keeps beverages hot or cold with a spill-resistant lid.
• Teachers Like Me Drawstring Bag Lightweight drawstring bag with the Teachers Like Me logo, priced at $11, suitable for gym, classroom, or casual use.

Quantifiable outcome

• Increased number of quality Black teachers in Kansas City public education

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Partner UniversitiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Teachers Like Me recruits college of education graduates from partner universities who are then supported through the program to teach in Kansas City urban schools. The organization collaborates with these educational institutions to identify and develop future Black teachers.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Center for Black Educator Development: Philadelphia-based nonprofit that recruits, trains, and retains Black educators with a focus on teacher-quality pipelines — shares the recruit-develop-retain framework and culturally responsive training emphasis.
• Call Me MiSTER: Clemson University-led initiative to increase the pool of Black male teachers through cohort-based recruitment, tuition support, and mentoring — analogous mission delivered through a university partnership.
• Profound Gentlemen: Nonprofit dedicated to recruiting, developing, and retaining Black male educators in K-12 — the closest mission-aligned peer with identical 'Recruit, Develop, Retain' framing and similar cohort/community model.
• The Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice: National nonprofit advancing Black male educators through advocacy, professional learning, and community organizing — comparable recruitment/retention focus with an explicit diversity-and-equity lens.
• Black Teacher Collaborative: Chicago-based nonprofit focused on developing and retaining Black teachers through professional development, leadership pipelines, and community — directly comparable in scope and target population to Teachers Like Me.

Broad incumbents

• Teach For America: Large-scale teacher-placement nonprofit recruiting teachers (of all backgrounds) into high-need schools; broad-based incumbent that overlaps with TLM's recruitment-to-urban-schools mission but lacks TLM's Black-teacher specificity, housing, and community-cohort emphasis.
• National Center for Teacher Residencies: Network of teacher-residency programs providing tuition-supported, classroom-embedded teacher preparation; comparable in providing financial and housing-like supports for aspiring teachers but not Black-teacher-specific.
• Urban Teachers: Teacher-residency program specifically recruiting and developing teachers for urban schools with tuition support and coaching — a comparable support-plus-coaching model for urban-school placement.

Regional players

• NYC Men Teach: New York City Department of Education program targeting Black, Latino, and Asian-American male teachers with recruitment incentives and retention support — analogous mission operating in a single metro outside KC.

Others

• KIPP Public Schools: Large charter network employing high concentrations of Black teachers in urban schools; relevant as a downstream employer/placement partner for TLM teachers rather than a direct program competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xinstagram.com/teachers_like_me
• Facebookfacebook.com/TeachersLikeMe
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/teacherslikeme
• Instagraminstagram.com/teachers_like_me

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Teachers Like Me