Amplify: Empowering Educators of Color for Student Success

What is Amplify?

Since 2017, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Amplify Community Advisory Committee has hosted Amplify: Empowering Educators of Color for Student Success, an annual event that supports educators of color in the Kansas City metro area. During the event thought leaders and practitioners from across the country and leaders and educators of color in the Kansas City region come together to learn from one another.

Nearly half of our nation’s students are not white, yet less than a quarter of teachers are people of color, according to the American Community Survey. Research continues to show that when a teacher’s race/ethnicity match their students, that academic success and outcomes improve.

Workforce and career development is vital to achieving financial stability, upward mobility, and economic prosperity for all people. When people have access to training, support, and the opportunity to achieve and progress on a career path, they can attain an equitable living wage setting generations of people on the path to prosperity. That’s why it’s one of the Foundation’s key strategic pillars.

Amplify convenes Kansas City-area educators of color in a space that allows for growth, professional development, and connection; by doing so, we’re also supporting Kansas City-area students.