Giving Compass' Take:

• Monica Gray Logothetis explains how DreamWakers uses edtech to connect disadvantaged students with role models that look like them and provide diverse viewpoints. 

• What are the advantages of using edtech for this type of project? How can funders provide support - both financial and intangible - to this type of program? 

• Learn about the importance of mentoring. 

DreamWakers is a nonprofit that uses free and existing video technology to connect under-resourced classrooms across the U.S. with diverse career professionals. The goal of these video chats is to help students link what they’re learning in school to the real world and to expose traditionally underserved students to new career possibilities. Specifically, the organization aims to recruit role models from similar backgrounds to the students it serves. In the words of Co-Founder and CEO Monica Gray Logothetis: “if you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” I sat down with Monica to learn more.

Julia: DreamWakers brings mentors and experts into classrooms and schools where more than 50% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch. Has that mission shaped the sorts of professionals that you recruit?

Monica: Yes, we intentionally recruit speakers with whom we think our student audiences will be able to identify. Many of our speakers grew up in under-resourced families and communities, are first-generation immigrants, or were the first in their families to complete college.

Teacher diversity really matters. A 2017 study found that when black children between third and fifth grade had a black teacher, boys in particular were much less likely to drop out of high school, and boys and girls were more likely to go to college. Simply put, bringing role models into the classroom can help alleviate the lack of diversity in the teacher workforce by exposing students to minority professionals working in meaningful careers.

Julia: Your model is premised on similarity breeding trust, inspiration, and connection. Do you ever connect speakers to classrooms with radically different viewpoints?

Monica: While many DreamWakers speakers share the background of the students they speak with, we also work with teachers to identify speakers who don’t share the background or beliefs as their audience when the teacher wants students to learn about different viewpoints. Recently, we connected U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (former chairperson of the Democratic National Committee) with a high school classroom in Carroll County, Virginia, a Republican district where 78% of voters voted for President Trump.

Read the full interview with Monica Gray Logothetis about connecting students with diverse mentors by Julia Freeland Fisher at Christensen Institute.