Uplift Movement

Big news — UpLiFT Movement is heading to Atlanta! 🎉

Our Executive Director, Jonathan C. W. Jones, will be presenting at UNITE 2026 alongside the Norman C. Francis Teacher Residency at Xavier University of Louisiana his alma mater, on something close to his heart: building real partnerships that tackle the BIPOC educator shortage and the turnover rates hitting our schools.

The session is called "What Could We Build Together? Live Partnership Discovery for Educator Diversity." Our founder, an HBCU grad and the founder of UpLiFT, teaming up with the school that shaped him — asking out loud what we could build if we stopped working in silos.

This work matters because representation in the classroom matters. Kids need to see what's possible for themselves, and that starts with who's standing in front of them. Twenty-five years after walking through Xavier's gates as a student, Jonathan is proud to bring that journey full circle on this stage.

If you're in Atlanta or attending UNITE 2026, come say hi! We'd love to connect.

Just a few days away!
This Friday, join Elevate Teaching, Movement, Ujima Collective, and Black Educators Alliance as we celebrate the educators, school leaders, and community members who make a difference every day.
📅 Friday, June 12, 2026
⏰ 4:00–7:00 PM
📍 Klassics Kitchen & Cocktails
Enjoy an evening of connection, appreciation, heavy appetizers, and non-alcoholic beverages as we close out another school year together.
This event is free and open to all.
Register today: elevateteaching.us/events

Our Teacher Appreciation Event was such a warm community centered event.

Kids In Need Foundation
Elevate Teaching
Hamline University
educators alliance

UpLiFT was IN the building this week — and we came back CHANGED.

Our Executive Director just returned from the LEE 2026 Courageous Leadership Conference and we have to share what this week meant — not just for our leader, but for the UpLiFT Movement and every community we serve. 💙

This is what poured into us so we can continue pouring into YOU:
🧠 The Inner Work is REAL
We learned about the 10 Saboteurs — those inner voices that quietly undermine our best efforts as leaders and organizations. And we learned how to activate the higher Sage within to confront them. UpLiFT has always believed that strong communities start with strong, whole leaders. This week confirmed it.
📋 Self-Care is a Leadership Strategy
Our ED built a personal Self-Care Menu — and is committed to using it. Even got that long overdue massage. 😌 We cannot build thriving communities if the builders are running on empty. Rest is resistance. Rest is strategy. Rest is necessary.

💡 Our new guiding word:
“The blessing of something being destroyed falls into the eyes and imagination of the Builder.”
UpLiFT — WE are Builders. In every school, every community, every boardroom where our work shows up — we BUILD. 🏗️

🏛️ Honoring the Continuum
Touring the Civil Rights Museum was a powerful reminder that the equity work UpLiFT does every day is part of a long, sacred, ongoing movement. We stand on mighty shoulders. We don’t take that lightly.

🔥 Inspired by Leaders Who Show Up FULLY
Shoutout to Dr. Penny Lee Schwinn, Shabbat Jeffries, and Aneesh Sohoni for showing up as their complete, authentic selves on that stage. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to at UpLiFT. No shrinking. No performing. Just purpose. 💪🏽

🐾 Community Found Us
From Xavier University of Louisiana HBCU alumni to fellow Penn State graduates — the connections made this week were not coincidental. They were purposed. Our people find our people. Every time.

👑 THIS is Why UpLiFT Exists
The most powerful moment of the entire week? Being surrounded by people of color serving on school boards across this country — showing up fiercely for children who look like ours. A very special shoutout to Erica Valliant of Saint Paul Public Schools, Minnesota — We see you.

The UpLiFT Movement is heading into the next season renewed, recharged, and more committed than ever to the communities we serve.

To everyone who poured into our leader this week — thank you. That investment comes right back to our kids, our families, and our communities. 💙✊🏽
Drop a 🙌🏽 if you believe our communities deserve whole, courageous, joy-filled leaders!

Opportunity…

Big opportunity alert 📚

The James Weldon Johnson Scholarship, powered by Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc, through the NAACP Inspire Initiatives, is now available for students heading into full-time enrollment at an accredited institution in Fall 2026.

If you’re planning your next academic step, this is one to check out. https://naacp.org/find-resources/scholarships-awards-internships/scholarships/james-weldon-johnson-scholarship