Devin Morris
The Teachers' Lounge, Inc.
Roslindale, Massachusetts
Devin Morris is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Teachers’ Lounge. Devin co-founded The Teachers’ Lounge in 2018 with then-business partner Jabari Peddie. They began this work because throughout their own K-12 and college experiences, as well as in their professional careers, they witnessed the under-representation of educators of color in lead teaching positions and felt the effects of not having a teacher with whom they could identify and see themselves reflected. Together, they sought to change this reality for future generations of students by creating and curating spaces intended to increase the recruitment, revitalization, and retention of Educators of Color across the Greater Boston Area.
Devin received his Marketing degree from Boston College in 2005. After gaining over 5 years of experience in footwear design & product development, Devin went on to receive a Master’s in Business Administration from Babson College, with a focus on Social Entrepreneurship and a rediscovery of his passion for education. Now in his 13th year in education, Devin has held roles in teaching, coaching, mentoring, school leadership, student/staff recruitment and retention, marketing, and development in district, charter, and private schools in NYC and The Greater Boston Area.
Outside of co-founding The Teachers' Lounge, Devin sits on several local and national coalitions supporting the diversification of the teacher workforce in support of all students. Devin is a member of the Commission on Black Men and Boys with the Boston Mayor’s Office. Devin has a passion for equity, community engagement & collaboration, program development, execution, and collective accountability.
Overview
The Teachers’ Lounge seeks to drive unprecedented student outcomes by greatly diversifying the people, thoughts, and actions of the educational workforce in the Greater Boston Area and beyond. By removing the transactional nature and physical barriers associated with many recruitment fairs, The Teachers’ Lounge serves as a space for educators of color, and friends, to convene monthly to learn about opportunities and resources available to them.
The Classroom Leaders of Color Fellowship is a two-year cohort model for early career Boston-based K-12 classroom teachers of color. The CLOC Fellowship’s vision, curriculum, and program are intentionally designed by educators of color, and for educators of color. Coaches and mentors, with shared identities, will meet the specific needs of early career educators of color, while developing, maintaining, and improving the skills and tools to avoid burnout, and increase early career educators’ input, impact, and income, towards a more sustainable profession. With support from the Boulder Fund, the Teachers’ Lounge will expand the Classroom Leaders of Color Fellowship by adding program capacity and expanding geographically into new schools and districts.
