Why They Teach
City Forward Collective
Challenge
In 2020 Milwaukee Public Schools had a real problem. They were short over 700 teachers and struggling to recruit more people to pursue teaching as a career. So how do you recruit more teachers (especially teachers of color) into a career that is often labeled as difficult, thankless and low paying?
Solution
In partnership with the City Forward Collective, Serve launched a campaign that spread the word that the opposite was true – that teachers were actually "rich". Even richer than CEOs, professional athletes, and rock stars. Billboards, bus shelters, digital banners and social posts then drove people to the website, WhyTheyTeach.com, where over 10,000 visitors discovered that "Teachers define richness differently." The site features stories of amazing Milwaukee teachers that believe teaching is a calling and more important than the salary that you earn.
Results
In the first six months over one million people directly engaged with the campaign on social and digital media. Dozens of stigma-breaking stories of inspiring teachers appeared on TV, in newspapers and online. And over 100 teachers have been nominated to be featured in the second phase of the campaign.
