Marvis Kilgore Named 2025 Bush Fellow, Launches Effort to Increase Black Male Teachers in Minnesota
Newly named 2025 Bush Fellow Marvis Kilgore is on a mission to increase the number of Black male educators in Minnesota. Through roundtables and STEM mentorship, Kilgore is working to bridge community gaps, uplift underrepresented voices, and lead with equity.
When Marvis Kilgore was praised for his work leading a Normandale College program to increase the number of Black male teachers in Minnesota, a colleague offered another suggestion: apply for a Bush Fellowship.
At the time, Kilgore was new to Minnesota from Mississippi and focused on establishing roots. He tucked the fellowship idea away for the future.
But when he eventually sat down to read the application, something clicked.
“I was like, ‘Oh my, this is going to be me,’” Kilgore recalled. “I knew that I would be strategic — not just strategic to become a Bush Fellow, but strategic in the way I present my mission. Very focused on the results that I am getting for the community.”
Now a 2025 Bush Fellow, Kilgore aims to deepen his understanding of the educational inequities that leave Black men vastly underrepresented in Minnesota classrooms.
“I want to know how to meet with the people to understand the why, so I can be better informed to be a better leader [with] equitable solutions,” he said.
He estimates that less than 1% of Minnesota teachers identify as Black men. To help change that, Kilgore is launching a series of quarterly roundtables beginning in the Twin Cities and eventually expanding statewide. His goal is to bring community voices to the forefront of conversations on education; voices he says are missing from academic data.
“After studying all the peer-reviewed research and reports, I kept thinking, where are the people? The numbers were extremely disconnected,” he said.
Kilgore’s Mississippi upbringing adds both clarity and complexity to his perspective. Growing up, he was surrounded by what he describes as a deeply rooted sense of community.
“I had people to see me, to speak life into me,” he said. “It was just random people I would meet in the grocery store — that sense of community.”
In contrast, he finds Minnesota’s communities more “siloed and pocketed,” limiting the flow of ideas and support. That isolation, he believes, contributes to the underrepresentation of Black men in education and other fields.
“If we had a stronger sense of community, not just siloed neighborhoods, we’d have more Black male teachers in the classroom,” he said. “We’d have more students in STEM, particularly with coding. But we have to make connections with the people.”
Kilgore is already building those connections through his work as executive director of Code Savvy, a nonprofit dedicated to equipping youth and educators with skills in technology. This summer, the organization is offering coding and STEM programming at Dayton’s Bluff Library in East St. Paul, led by community mentors.
“The students are able to have meaningful interactions with mentors who look like them, whose lived experiences are like theirs,” said Kilgore. “They can ask questions, and hopefully that sparks an interest in STEM, especially for underserved and underrepresented communities.”
To expand Code Savvy’s reach, Kilgore invites the community to get involved.
“I would just encourage community members, donors, potential mentors, and volunteers to reach out to us. Visit our website,” he said. “We have something for everyone. And to be most impactful, we need to partner with community in the most authentic way.”
He also encourages others to consider applying for the Bush Fellowship.
“The Bush Fellowship is not about a project — you are the project,” he said. “It’s about investing in yourself, fine-tuning your leadership, and becoming a better community servant.”
And if your application isn’t accepted the first time? Try again.
“Most fellows have applied more than once,” Kilgore said. “I would encourage people to quiet that inner saboteur. Make yourself enough by doing things to improve, and always ask people around you who aren’t afraid to tell the truth.
“Narrate from your perspective, from a position of strength, what you’ve done and why you’d make a good Bush Fellow.”
Marvis Kilgore is a 2025 Bush Fellow. For more information, visit www.bushfoundation.org/2025-bush-fellows/, and learn more about Code Savvy at www.codesavvy.org.
Vickie Evans-Nash is a contributing writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. Vickie welcomes reader responses at vnash@spokesman-recorder.com.