Outside the Sunshine Center in North Portland’s Overlook neighborhood, the sounds of children playing, laughing and singing greet visitors. Inside the preschool and child care center, you’ll find founder Troy Tate.

A Black male teacher, Tate is a rarity in Oregon early childhood education, where the vast majority of professionals are white women.

As families across Oregon prepare this month to send their children back to school, Tate said he is aware he is offering something unique.

“It’s not better or worse, just different,” Tate said. “Most students aren’t going to have a Black male teacher this early in their academic career – some not at all.”

In 2022, roughly 92% of Oregon early education professionals were women, and 75% identified as white, according to a survey of the state’s early childhood care providers. That doesn’t match Oregon’s overall student population. According to the National Council on Teacher Quality, 40% of pre-K through 12th grade students are children of color compared with 15% of all teachers.

When Tate opened the school in 2010, he said some people were appreciative about sending their children to the Sunshine Center because of their gender and race.

“I hired a white woman, and I