Education as Empowerment | Dr. Lloyd's Fight for Literacy Equity

Dr. Kimberly Lloyd, veteran Chicago police officer, resilience coach, and founder of We Got You Covered, shares her bold career transition into education equity activism. In this conversation with Amy Boyle, explore how community building, mentorship, and unwavering determination became the tools to close literacy gaps for African-American boys. A masterclass in turning personal resilience into systemic change.

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Speaking of Phenomenal is created and produced by Amy Boyle. Podcast artwork by Amanda Eich. "Woman" by Tiffany Villarreal, used with permission. Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review and share the podcast, and stay tuned for more inspiring conversations. Support the show with on Patreon.

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Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (00:00.098)
Have you ever wondered how literacy can change your life? Welcome to Speaking of Phenomenal. I'm your host, Amy Boyle. And today we're joined by Dr. Kimberly Lloyd, a Chicago police officer and founder of We've Got You Covered. Dr. Lloyd is addressing the literacy gap for African-American boys, transforming lives and communities. If you're curious about creating real impact through education, this episode is for you. Let's get started.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (00:30.882)
Welcome to the Speaking of Phenomenal podcast, Dr. Kimberly. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad to be here, Amy. Thank you. As we do with, I always start off with asking our guests to introduce their phenomenal selves. My name is Dr. Kimberly Lloyd. I am a Chicago police officer and I have been a Chicago police officer for 25 years at present. I am also the curator, director, founder, owner, operator.

CEO of We Got You Covered, which we affectionately call WGYC, which is a nonprofit that I developed to try to tackle and resuscitate literacy among African-American boys. And so I've been doing that for a few years now and I landed at Urban Prep Academy and I work out of the Bronzeville community location.

That's what I've been doing and that's who I am. And that's pretty much what I'm about. Literacy. started off with police officer first and now the founder and all the many hats that go along starting the organization. Where did the passion come from? What is the mission of WGYC? My adult career really started in education. I started with the archdiocese. I worked at St. Colt Hill Grammar School, St. Martin de Porres High School.

I left the Archdiocese and then I started a career with CYC, which is Chicago Youth Centers on the West Side of Chicago, which was ABC and BBR. I was assistant to the West Side area director. And so I had always been in this field with children and watching them succeed and not succeed. And then I left Chicago Youth Centers and took another position, administrative position with the Chicago Board of Education.

And then I was at Molison Elementary School, which is in the Bronzeville community. I spent a couple of years there and then I left and I went to Hyde Park Career Academy. But in that, in those positions, I had a front row seat that allowed me to see the things that children try to navigate along with the pressures of the outside of where they live, where they go to school, gangs, poverty, subpar teaching.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (02:56.454)
It's a list and then them trying to navigate also being a boy. And so that was one of the things that I noticed. And then fast forward to my PhD, where I was part of a group assignment and our topic was literacy. And I said, wow, well, let's look at mollison. So that's really how it started. I went back to where I started, looked at mollison's reading scores and I thought, they doing great. So I was excited. had pride and everything, but then I looked at.

the fourth grade boys and the literacy scores went from, I want to say they were in a 95 percentile to 37. And immediately I said, well, what happened? So that's how it started. It was a group project and it took off from there. And how it ended up being where it is now is simply something really crazy happened. One of my professors called me from China. She texts me at like two in the morning and she says, Kim.

This is not a Chicago problem. I'm sending this to you from the New York Times. She said, this is a national problem. You need to read this. And I was up until like five o'clock in the morning reading. And then it was weird because with that one article, everything started to populate. You know how you've searched for something sometimes and you can't find anything. And then you put maybe the right, the key words in and then all of these turn, all of the research started to populate for me.

So then it was showing that the major cities, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, were having these same issues that we're having in Chicago. And it showed its head in fourth grade with African-American boys specifically. Because unfortunately, that demographic particularly scores the lowest of any student body to take standardized tests when it comes to literacy. I know you've said before that it's more than a Chicago problem, it's a national problem.

why explain a little bit more about how education or the lack thereof, especially in literacy is more of a civil rights issue today. think it's more of a lack of connection. And I'm going to explain that what I mean in particular, because what we know to be true in Chicago, particularly that the Chicago board of education is predominantly 75 % Caucasian. Okay. But the schools are not. And so then you have.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (05:22.626)
teachers who are coming from various suburbs who have never really engaged with African-American students. And then you have boys in particular who move very different than girls. Girls kind of sit still, they fold their hands, boys need to touch each other, they're hitting, they're doing whatever and not necessarily acting out. But what happens to boys, African-American boys specifically, is that by fourth grade they're no longer seen as cute little boys.

So now they're a threat to their teachers. So what they end up doing is getting put out of class, they get suspended. They have the highest rate of suspension being sent to special education. And a lot of that has more to do with the teacher's lack of knowledge and experience because they're not getting that in undergrad. They're not being forced to go to schools where the student body doesn't look like them. And then that would help them to navigate

when they do get in these classrooms that they're able to deal with the student body that will be before them. And so oftentimes they don't receive that kind of support in college. They don't receive it once they get to the classroom. So they're kind of winging it. And that's why attrition is so bad when it comes to that. So I think it's a bigger problem from oversight with education.

in general, as opposed to it always being a racial thing, if that makes sense. The race thing is embedded in the system, period, right? It's always there. It doesn't go away, but I think that when we have teachers that really want to teach students, they don't have the tools because they never receive them. thinking of solutions a way forward, what are some of the things that instructors need to make sure that

Especially there isn't such a radical fall off after fourth grade. The change needs to start in college. If I sign up for a program and I want to be a teacher, the curriculum needs to support the teacher. The curriculum needs to support them being able to teach literacy. And when I did my interviews of teachers, when I was working on my dissertation, most of them said that they did not receive that support. And some of these people were at top.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (07:47.04)
not schools. They explained that their other classes, they actually showed them how to get the instruction off of the pages of the book and into the minds of their students. But for literacy, they did not receive that kind of instruction. So there is no phonemic awareness. There is no phonics. Those subjects are no longer taught. And consequently, they're not taught in undergrad to teachers who are going to eventually get in classrooms.

and try to teach literacy. I think it starts with curriculum in colleges, first of all, which will prepare teachers. it comes to this, this massive gap, your epiphany to start, Got You Covered, how many years ago did you start We Got You Covered and what was its original foundation and where is it today? Literally, We Got You Covered started out of sheer emotion.

And what I mean by that, I had just come home from work at the time I was working in the Inglewood community and I came home, I was on the phone with my daughter and she was like, hurry up, turn on the news. Telling me some kid had been killed over his shoes. And so I get home, I still have my uniform on, I go to the kitchen, I turn on the TV and they're showing that this young man had been killed over his shoes at 63rd and State. And it was so...

Even now thinking about I'm trying not to be emotional about it because the mother had twin sons and she always picked them up and took them to basketball practice. Well, they're six, three, and they're saying, mom, listen, you got to let us do this by ourselves. Come on. So she does. And that particular day, one of her sons does not make it home. He was killed. And in that moment I decided, I called everyone I knew. I had a play mom who was retired from Chicago board of education.

who also used to be my boss at Molson Elementary School. And I said, we got to do something. This child today, we don't know, but the next one we may. And I said, and this is over shoes and this has been going on forever. I always think about Chris. And when this happened, I said, we've got to do something. A friend of the family asked me to come and speak to his boys. And so that's how I ended up at Urban Prep. He says, I need you to come and talk to them.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (10:11.276)
I want you to talk to them as a woman. I want you to talk to them as a police officer, as a black woman with a PhD. I want you to talk to them about harassment, abuse, social, emotional learning. And he wanted me to talk about assimilation coding and the N word. Because at that point they were housed at Roosevelt university. So he was saying that there were some issues about how the boys were conducting themselves.

And so that's how I came in. Cause initially I, my plan was to be at a grammar school, but you know, make a plan and God has a joke for it. He's like, no, that's not where you're going. I'm getting a senior over here. And so I've been there every sense because one of, once I did that, I realized I need to stay here because our high schoolers can't We are looking at our grammar school children.

but our high schoolers can't read. How do you broach that subject with someone 14 to 18, sometimes 19 years old that he can't read? I felt like they needed to trust me because I came in and playing clothes for a reason, but I also asked them to guess what I did for a living. So we started off like that. And just so they would know who they were with in terms of all the hats that I wear. And I wanted them to be comfortable with that. I wanted them to realize that this 40 minutes,

In this room is a safe space. You're not getting sent to the Dean. I'm not getting ready to put you out. And what I say to them, or what I used to say is, you let me know what side of me you want to show up. Do you want Dr. Lloyd in this room or do you want the Inglewood Ranger in me in this room? And that's what we've affectionately call ourselves, those of us who worked back in the day in Inglewood in the seventh district. So they would say, we want Dr. Lloyd. I said, okay, great. Dr. Lloyd is who will be here.

And so that's how we got started. our listeners who aren't necessarily in Chicago, you know, in your words, what's an Englewood Ranger and how, you know, what would the boys be reading that as? Okay. That's a very good question. That's fair. So Englewood is a small community in Chicago. It used to be predominantly African-American, however, the demographics are changing to African-American and Hispanic.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (12:34.21)
But when I was there back in the day, as we would say, it was pretty much 100 % African-American. Now out of the, we used to have 25 districts in Chicago in terms of the police department. Inglewood was the smallest district with the highest rate of crime. So somehow or another, before I became an Inglewood Ranger, they used to say we're Rangers because it wasn't a guarantee that you were going to make it home.

And it was a very dangerous district. so the camaraderie that we had there, we were a family. was a very close knit family and we showed up for each other. We showed up for our jobs. So that's what I mean. And so people know, if I say I worked in Inglewood, they're like, wow. Okay. Because they know that it was a high crime area and it still is, but not like it was back then. I need Dr. Lloyd to listen and help me today. That's, that really helps a lot.

But can I say this now, because I've been there and there's a connection and there's trust, the Inglewood Ranger never really has to show up. I come in and they're like, hey, Dr. Lloyd, how are you? Because they know I'm coming. They know I'm coming for them. Like I used to say, I'm here on my day off. I want to be here. I'm here to help you. And so now, because we have the connection, we have the trust, Dr. Lloyd gets to show up every time. Yeah. So it's a good day when I go.

What would a typical day off, working for WGYC look like? What's your main initiative right now? We do barbershop Monday, as you're familiar with. And we also do black men speak. And what that looks like is I have African-American professional men come in.

and speak to the boys and we started really small in the classroom, but then more students were like, Dr. Loy, you left us out. So then we transferred that to the auditorium and the black men come and speak about being a boy, a black boy, a black man, what that looks like for them, career choices, making good decisions when you find yourself in a situation on the street. And, and what I say to them,

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (14:50.574)
is I'm bringing black men in here to talk to you because I've never been a boy. I'm not a man. And those are things that I can't give you, but I'm going to bring people in here that will and can. And so they enjoy that. We had a group come in specifically to speak about fatherlessness. And I was quite surprised at how much they opened up about that. And in fact, this school year they've asked, are they coming back? So I've reached out to them and they said, yeah, we're on board.

We, and then, so this year, Amy, I want to incorporate a book club. was trying to figure out how to get the whole literacy campaign off the ground for high schoolers so that they don't feel dejected or like I'm downing them in any kind of way because I know that they are not able to read. And so I said, well, book club would work because if I give them the books and then they say, well, Dr. Lloyd, I didn't really get this.

Then that opens the door for me to say, let's talk about it. Well, then you understand. And then we can do that. In addition to the book club, it's a young doctor at DePaul University who has a series of books based in Chicago on a family who have superpowers. So now we're trying to collaborate with DePaul, with her and with Urban Prep. We use her series of the books and bring them into the school for the boys.

And, I've just met a man recently who tutors literacy all over the country. He says, I'm there, Kim, whenever you want me. So that's where we are. And that's what we're doing. You're bringing in, I love the book club and the books that they can see themselves, right? We all know in speaking of Phenomenal and the Phenomenal Women Project, which you've been a part of, like we need to see ourselves to know that we.

we exist and we can do more and do better. And with this program as well, maybe share with the audience a little bit more about the state of literacy today and some of those statistics that you were telling me about earlier. What we know to be true is that literacy, unfortunately for youth, all youth, but African-American boys in particular, it's dismal, the numbers.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (17:12.679)
And unfortunately, it's a direct correlation with criminality. Because what happens is it's a cycle. If I can't read, and I'm going to go to the scores, if I can't read, I'm going to get put out of class. And then I'm going to do that. I'm going to get put out of class because I want to, because I don't want these boys that live in my neighborhood to know that I can't read. So once that happens for so long, now I'm in trouble and I'm put out of this school.

So now what's left, I'm gonna join one of the gangs or I'm gonna be out on the street. And then if we look at our juvenile system and our prisons, 90 % of the individuals that are there are illiterate and read on a fourth grade level. So that speaks volumes about what has been going on systemically. Additionally, the US

literacy has only improved 17 % in 142 years, which is a crime. send people to the moon, but we cannot teach our students how to read. And one of my male teachers who I interviewed in my dissertation, he said to me, and I was sitting there as I was taking notes and he says, you know, Kim, I probably shouldn't be saying this, but it's a system.

They don't want black boys to read because they become black men who can read. And I was trying to keep myself together and not show any emotion while he was speaking like, my God, he's saying it. And, it's, it's kind of true because we could change things. It wouldn't be that difficult. We, what, what people like to focus on and they'll say, well, parents should be doing this in a, perfect world. That would be great if our, all our parents were involved, but we know that not to be true.

We live in a society now where children are being raised by aunts and uncles and grandmothers and they're out of, foster care. So they have homelessness. So we have got to change how we do things. We can't keep doing the same thing, expecting a different result. That's why we're at 17 % in 142 years. Since you've started WGYC with your students, what

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (19:36.034)
What kind of success stories have you seen? What's something that just gives your heart hope to know that you're absolutely in the right place making positive change? do have some success stories with the children going off to college, getting full rides. One of my students that I was concerned was going to be put out of school because I knew something was going on at home and I knew he was involved in some activities that he should not have been.

I'm involved in and I came to the school one day and they said he was put out. then I came back and he was there in complete uniform. This is, I mean, this is the first time I've ever seen him in complete uniform. It's like what happened? But I think the fact that he was put out had resonated with him so strongly that he felt like, this is something I need to do because

All I had was the street and that wasn't enough. I thought it was because I was fighting being in school, but when I no longer had school, I appreciated school more. So he came back, he was in complete uniform, he was engaged. He actually was there that day when the men came and spoke about fatherlessness and they talked about making good decisions for your life. And he said, well, what if you made bad decisions? And they said, man, you're in high school, it's enough time for you.

to fix whatever you think is broken. So for me, those kinds of stories resonate because we almost lost him and hopefully he is on the right track now that he's graduated from high school. Cause that's where the empowerment comes from, right? It's when they take the initiative. Right. Right. When it comes to long-term goals for your organization, what is...

What's your pie in the sky? I deal with whether it's Chicago based or national or, you know, magic wand of cloning yourself three times. What would be the best thing that could happen? As people say, come to my school. I said, I can't, I still have a full time job and it's only one of me. I think my pie in the sky, honestly, would be to have a program in every grammar school in the city of Chicago. And it will start at pre-K.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (21:58.272)
And by the time our students, male or female, got to fourth grade, they would be reading for fun so that they would have ease with reading for their assignments. But we'd have to start that young because quite often children enter school not even recognizing their ABCs. But our expectation is that this teacher is supposed to teach them how to read.

when they don't even recognize ABC. So we're underground, not even on ground. We're starting under. We're taking a hit every day with that. And the pandemic did not help at all. It really put a wrench in whatever advances some students had made in terms of their academics. So ideally, my pie in the sky would be to make sure that every Chicago public school

especially the South and West sides would have a program inside of them, helping our children to learn how to read to the point where they actually enjoy reading. leads perfectly to what can our listeners do to learn more, educate themselves, help out, volunteer, whether it be Chicago or their own communities at home. Yeah, I think probably if schools have programs, if you're not in Chicago and they have

programs where you can volunteer your time to help students to learn how to read would be instrumental, especially if you're African American and you want to help our boys to be able to read and be better readers so that they end up completing their educational journey, whatever that looks like for them. Because again, college isn't for everyone. That's not what we're saying here, but we are saying that regardless of what you want to do, you have to be able to read.

If you want to have a career where you work with your hands and you go into that program, you've got to read the material, right? You have to pass a state exam of some kind of a licensing. So it's important that you're able to read. I think here in Chicago, they can reach me. W G Y C. you can go to my website and look, you can email me however you want to reach out is fine.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (24:18.606)
I take all the help I can get. I meet people all the time. I met a gentleman having dinner and he's buying a washer and dryer for the school because sometimes the kids come to school and their clothes are soiled and so, or they're out of uniform. And I'll ask, where's your uniform? And they were like, well, I didn't have money to wash. Okay. We'll resolve that. You'll be able to wash here. So by any means necessary, email, call, text, whatever.

it can hit me up and I'm willing to take all the help that we can get because we try to minimize how big the issue is because sometimes if you look at the big picture, it seems like it's insurmountable. So we just do baby steps. And as one of my play moms says, you can't unscramble eggs. So we're dealing with what we have in front of us and we do it on one step at a time.

And that's all we can do. Well, I can't thank you enough for you being on the show today for sharing what the current journey is and share with our listeners what the struggle is so that more people are aware and can find baby steps to get involved too, because it's a lot easier. Right? You look at the big problem and say, well, what can I do? There's a lot we could do, whether it's helping out. Like you said, it's,

coming to school in uniform so you feel put together. It's having the materials that you might need. It's having a guest speaker that could literally change your life. So I applaud you a million times over. I will link everything that you mentioned in the show notes. I've also linked back to, cause you were one of our original 52s, Phenomenal Women a few years ago, and even part of my

mini documentaries so people can really learn more about what you've done, what you continue to do and the phenomenal changes you're making in our community. Thank you, Dr. Kim. Thank you so much. I mean, I appreciate you having me here today. You have a wonderful day. Thank you for joining us on this episode of Speaking of Phenomenal. Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, and even share the podcast as well as stay tuned for more inspiring conversations.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (26:39.852)
Remember, each and every one of you is capable of extraordinary things. Until next time, take care and remember, you are phenomenal.