Black Minds Matter is a national movement to celebrate Black minds, support excellence, and promote the development of high-quality school options for Black students. It was founded in 2020 by Denisha Merriweather Allen to share the stories of how school choice benefits students of color, as well as identify and support black founders who are creating new schools and learning programs for children and teens. The organization created the first national directory of black school founders, capturing the work of more than 300 US entrepreneurs who have launched private schools, charter schools, microschools, and homeschool-related programs.
The new black founders report, based on survey data from 61 respondents, reveals that the majority of the entrepreneurs are former public school teachers who lean to the political left while advocating school choice policies that enable education funding to follow students rather than school systems. They serve mostly low-income and minority students who were formerly enrolled in public schools, including many who were struggling academically or have special needs. They are strongly motivated to help black students in their communities, and to teach a culturally relevant curriculum.
“Black families and communities have been fighting for generations to access high-quality learning options for their children,” writes the report’s authors. “The proliferation of school choice programs and powerful new tools like state-funded education savings accounts are making it easier for education entrepreneurs to create and sustain those options. But there’s still work to be done to expand choice, and to continue mitigating or eliminating the other barriers entrepreneurs face.”
One of the founders included in the Black Minds Matter school directory is Coi Morrison, a former public school teacher in both the Chicago and Memphis public schools who launched the Lab School of Memphis in 2021.