Saba Gebrai

Foster Youth Advocate

Saba Gebrai helps foster youth become powerful advocates for themselves and other young people facing similar challenges. With two decades of experience, she has led efforts to increase high school graduation, prepare them for postsecondary opportunities, and provide support for Michigan college students with foster care backgrounds. She works alongside youth leaders with lived expertise of the foster care system to ensure children and youth in foster care are heard and seen in policy and in the systems that serve them, to ensure they are supported throughout their educational journey.

Currently, Gebrai serves as a program director for the Park West Foundation, supporting southeast Michigan youth as they age out of the foster care system. She leads youth-led programs and policy advocacy initiatives that enhance the educational and total well-being of foster youth. Gebrai involves the students at every step, from program planning and policy strategy development to press conferences and legislative hearings. In partnership with youth who have experienced foster care, she co-founded the Empowering Foster Youth Through TECHnology (EFyTECH) advocacy group and serves as an advisor, helping young people form policy recommendations that ensure their access to education through high school graduation. This work has led to state legislative wins and received national attention.

Gebrai says the most important thing you can do for a young person is listen to them.

Wytrice Harris

Community Organizer & Student Success Advocate

Wytrice Harris supports and empowers Detroit students and parents, helping them build stronger schools and expand their own access to higher education.

Harris currently serves as senior director of college success and partnerships for the Detroit Promise Scholarship. The scholarship offers Detroit graduates a tuition-free path to an associate degree, bachelor’s degree, or technical certificate at 32 postsecondary institutions across Michigan. Since 2013, Detroit Promise has supported over 8,000 students from Detroit to college.

Harris’ previous roles include serving as a Math Corps program coordinator at Wayne State University, leading the Osborn College Access Network, and leading grassroots education organizing with 482Foward. Harris is a founding member and current board member of 482Forward, supporting Detroit youth, parents, and community members in education systems change.

Harris also has served as pastor of Total Life Christian Ministries, a church founded with her husband, for 30 years and counting. Her life’s work is rooted in the motto, if better is possible, good is never enough.

Mario Lemons

School Leader & Role Model

Mario Lemons “builds the village” around students and helps them develop into their best selves.

Lemons began his education career as a teacher at Henry Ford Academy Elementary School in Detroit. In addition to his years of experience in the classroom, Lemons also served as a behavior interventionist, helping students process difficult emotions. With education and the arts being an integral part of his life’s work, Lemons has dedicated himself to empowering young people in creative spaces, as well as motivating students academically, socially, and emotionally.

In 2019, Lemons became the Head of School at Detroit Achievement Academy. His ability to cultivate strong social connections has strengthened the school community and contributed to student success. Growing up less than a mile away from the Academy, Lemons leverages his deep ties to the neighborhood to engage local members in supporting the school. His dedication led to his recognition as a “2022 Michigan Charter School Administrator of the Year Finalist” by MAPSA and receiving the “Transformative School Leader of the Year” award from the Black Male Educators Alliance (BMEA) in 2024.

Lemons’ unwavering commitment and impact are felt by students, families, and colleagues alike.

Sarah Winchell Lenhoff

Education Researcher

Sarah Winchell Lenhoff’s research on student attendance, mobility, and school choice has informed essential education policy changes. Her research illuminates pressing challenges and effective solutions to improve the education system in Detroit and beyond.

Lenhoff is an associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies and the Leonard Kaplan Endowed Professor at Wayne State University’s College of Education. Her research largely focuses on education policy implementation and equitable education access, with an emphasis on how social policy contexts shape educational experiences. Currently, Lenhoff is examining how investments in affordable housing and neighborhood transformation can strengthen communities and create educational opportunity. Lenhoff has co-authored more than 60 education policy studies, including books, journal articles, and public reports, and shared her work with numerous Detroit community members and universities across the nation. She has helped to secure millions of dollars in grant funding to support collaborative research projects, evaluations, and intervention strategies.

Lenhoff began her career as a New York City public school teacher and previously led the research and policy division of the nonprofit The Education Trust-Midwest. Lenhoff is the founding faculty director of the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research (Detroit PEER).

Lenhoff’s research centers on gathering insights from students, educators, parents, and community members to understand what’s not working in the education system and what can be done to repair and enhance it.

Jametta Lilly

Parent Organizer

Jametta Lilly is a change agent who amplifies the voices of parents across the government, nonprofit, philanthropic, and private sectors. She has served as an executive & consultant in early childhood, behavioral health, higher education, and public health settings.

Lilly serves as President & CEO of the Detroit Parent Network. She builds cross-sector partnerships to ensure families have equitable resources and opportunities to support their children from cradle to career. Lilly has secured over $30 million in grant funding from the state government and philanthropic sources to expand whole family empowerment initiatives across multiple counties. She advocates for state and federal policies to close opportunity gaps, including equitable school funding and support for students’ social, emotional, and academic development.

Lilly has been an active member of several family-centered initiatives, including the Michigan Partnership for Equity and Opportunity, Governor Whitmer’s Coronavirus Racial Disparities Task Force, and the State of Michigan Child Abuse and Neglect Task Force.

Lilly’s ability to build partnerships across multiple sectors has expanded educational opportunities for students and provided parents and caregivers with training and resources that help them support their children’s educational growth.

Dr. Juan José Martínez

Public Charter School Superintendent

Born and raised in the vibrant Latina/o community of Southwest Detroit, Dr. Juan José Martínez’s mission hits close to home.

Martínez is superintendent of the public charter district César Chávez Academy. He closely engages with staff, students, parents, and community members to support the well-being and success of students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Under his guidance, César Chávez Academy Schools have been recognized for academic excellence and cultural inclusion.

César Chávez Academy students are encouraged to freely express themselves through different languages and celebrate the cultures of their families and neighbors. Bilingual and bicultural education is Martínez’s specialty, and he has observed how this approach has proven to engage and accelerate young people in their learning journeys.

Before leading César Chávez Academy, Martínez served as the district’s high school leader. He has also held a leadership role at Detroit Public Schools and was a two-time elected member of the Detroit Board of Education, District 2, where he advocated for additional federal and state funding for students and introduced policies at the district level that impacted thousands of students.

After serving on the Detroit Board of Education, Martínez worked in city government as an assistant to former Mayor Dennis Archer and chief of staff for then-City Council Member Sheila Cockrel.

Martínez says the students in his schools inspire him daily, and partnerships with parents fuel their success.

Anika Akins McEvans

Student Athletics Trailblazer

Anika Akins McEvans is a powerful advocate for young athletes and youth sports. She is committed to eliminating barriers to access across socioeconomic, racial, and gender lines so every youth can get in the game.

McEvans serves as the assistant director of athletics for the Detroit Public Schools Community District, where she is responsible for sports offerings across 72 elementary and middle schools and supports the sports programming of 20 high schools.

A key contributor to city and state-level initiatives, McEvans has helped expand K-12 sports offerings, established safety policies, aligned academic performance standards for student-athletes, elevated cheerleading in Detroit Public Schools Community District and Southfield Public Schools to competitive status, advocated for increased inclusion of women and people of color among athletic officials, and ensured athletes who switch schools can finish their season. She has served on many Michigan High School Athletic Association committees and task forces and was named a 2024 recipient of its Allen W. Bush Award for her service.

McEvans previously served as the district athletic director for Southfield Public Schools, general manager of the women’s professional football franchise Detroit Demolition/Detroit Danger, and assistant general manager for the Motor City Mechanics minor league hockey team.

McEvans knows firsthand that interscholastic athletics can help young people develop in countless ways, including academically, and pushes for every young person to be able to engage in any sport they desire.

Ambra Redrick

Youth Champion & Cross-Sector Coordinator

Ambra Redrick is a courageous “mother of many,” ready to take on anything that stands in the way of young people reaching their ambitions.

Redrick co-founded Teen HYPE in 2004 to foster the future-oriented thinking of young people. Teen HYPE accomplishes this through health education and leadership development programs. Across its 21-year history, Redrick’s organization has supported thousands of Detroit youth to think big and grow the mindset needed to achieve their dreams.

Redrick actively seeks collaborations to expand the network of people and programs rallying together for kids. Through a partnership with the City of Detroit’s Grow Detroit’s Young Talent initiative, Teen HYPE has provided workforce training for over 1,000 teens. Redrick is leading her own collaborative initiative, the Detroit Youth Action Plan, engaging youth, residents, local officials, educators, and nonprofit and community leaders to co-create a Youth Action Plan that sets a collective vision for young people in Detroit and defines the resources and actions needed to achieve it. The initiative will convene stakeholders, helping to coordinate collective action and steer youth toward their self-determined destinations. Redrick believes change begins when we open our hearts and envision ways to positively impact the lives of young people in Detroit.

Alisa Ruffin

Teacher Leader & Curriculum Designer

Alisa Ruffin believes in the power and potential of Detroit to be a global model for education.

With 20 years of education experience, including roles as a public high school teacher, a private parochial school principal, and a Detroit Public Schools Community District curriculum administrator, Ruffin has an extensive and varied background in K-12 education.

Today, Ruffin serves as the senior director of leadership development for the Detroit Public Schools Community District, cultivating education leaders across the district’s 106 schools. Previously, she served as the district’s senior director of 9-12 literacy.

As the head of the literacy curriculum, Ruffin led the Detroit Perspectives Project, working with students and educators to develop culturally responsive instruction and materials for high school English courses. The collaborative process involved pilot lessons and feedback loops from students, parents, community members, and school staff. The resulting curriculum included works by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color authors, reflecting the backgrounds of Detroit students and a diversity of perspectives. Her work in the Detroit Perspectives Project and beyond strengthened curriculum implementation for teachers and literacy growth for students.

Ruffin’s people-centered approach continues to support the fundamental partnership between educators, students, and the community, guiding educators in their work to nourish young people’s genius.

Anisa Sahoubah

Education Nonprofit Leader

Anisa Sahoubah is an accomplished and innovative education leader who has spearheaded the development of initiatives that have transformed the way in which children and young adults engage in out-of-school-time education, enrichment opportunities, and workforce development.

Her work began at the neighborhood level at ACCESS more than 20 years ago and evolved into creating frameworks, education materials, and trainings that are widely shared across out-of-school providers, both locally and nationally.

Sahoubah’s decades-long efforts at the grassroots level and her experiences as an immigrant of Yemeni descent have contributed to her commitment to seek out long-term, sustainable solutions to multi-layered community challenges by working alongside children and their families.

This includes programs that build strong academic foundations, life skills, college/career preparedness, and ensuring that students’ basic household needs are addressed.

Her impact has been substantial. Sahoubah’s efforts, advocacy at the state and federal level, and grant-writing skills have brought in tens of millions of dollars in state, federal, corporate, and foundation funding, resulting in the scaling of essential programs to thousands of students in Detroit and beyond.

In addition to serving as director of youth and education, Sahoubah oversees ACCESS’ Workforce Development Department, ensuring that K-12 education and workforce development are integrated, allowing youth to create pathways to gainful employment.

Sherisse Butler

Education Nonprofit Leader

Sherisse Butler is bridging the gap between community and government.

Butler is the senior vice president and executive director of City Year Detroit, dedicated to building a stronger Detroit by supporting and developing AmeriCorps members as leaders in their schools and community. Butler has pursued better educational outcomes for urban students throughout her career—first as an afterschool teacher in New York, then overseeing middle school initiatives and youth program evaluation at Teen HYPE Youth Development in Detroit. More recently, she was the head of government relations for Detroit Public Schools Community District where she collaborated with senior leaders to formulate and advance the district’s legislative priorities.

Butler volunteers for local education initiatives and school board campaigns. She is also a precinct delegate, the youth pastor of St. Paul AME Church, continues to support Teen HYPE as vice-chair of the board of directors, and is a board member of the Detroit Promise which offers a tuition-free path to postsecondary education in Michigan.

Dr. Sirrita Darby

Youth & Education Advocate

Dr. Sirrita Darby brings a multi-pronged approach to systems change, from youth-led work to co-designing curriculum with students.

In her time as an English teacher at Detroit Collegiate High School, Dr. Darby created a space where love, academic rigor, and emotional healing flourished. Alongside ELA standards, Dr. Darby created “healing circles” for her students to unpack traumas while simultaneously strengthening their speaking, reading, and writing skills. Their collective journey resulted in a published book of student poems called Forbidden Tears.

Harnessing her insights from the classroom, Dr. Darby founded and serves as the executive director of Detroit Heals Detroit. She facilitates safe spaces for Detroit youth to authentically express themselves, heal from trauma, and work to dismantle systems of oppression. She built these practices into an educational curriculum and youth training that has been taken up by classroom teachers and afterschool providers across the country. Additionally, Dr. Darby worked alongside the young people she serves to co-found a “Healing Hub,” a community house where young Detroiters can receive free food, clothes, books, tutoring and more.

Jerjuan Howard

Afterschool Game Changer

Jerjuan Howard’s work in Detroit’s afterschool system has earned him widespread admiration for the ways he approaches program delivery, partnerships, and system expansion.

Howard launched the Umoja Debate League in 2021 at his alma mater, John R. King Middle School. Today, just three years later, the program reaches 210 students at 20 schools. Named after the Swahili word for “unity,” his program teaches youth conflict resolution skills, self-expression, and literacy. Howard also established Umoja Village, a community space with a garden, art, a free library, and a stage for debate events and community meetings.

Howard previously worked as the special projects and partnerships coordinator for Detroit City Council President Pro Tem James Tate, where one of his priority areas was reducing gun violence in the city. This issue continues to fuel Howard, who uses debate training to teach young people to resolve conflict in a healthy, nonviolent way.

Howard’s dedication to advancing racial equity and justice in education has been recognized through multiple awards from city officials, including the Spirit of Detroit Award in December 2023.

Jenell Mansfield

Teachers Union Organizer

Jenell Mansfield builds educators’ power to influence policy change.

Mansfield is a political and legislative coordinator at American Federation of Teachers–Michigan Union (AFT-Michigan) where she trains teachers, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, and school support staff to become legislative leaders. Her role also includes coordinating advocacy across higher education faculty and staff as well as school health care professionals. She is the first Black woman and former educator to serve in this critical role.

Mansfield’s achievements at AFT-Michigan have included restoring bargaining rights for Detroit teachers and working in coalition with the Detroit community to win a $94-million literacy lawsuit paid out to the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

Her career has included serving as a classroom teacher, a school social worker, the founding director of academic programs at SAY Detroit Play Center, and the former director of the Parent Academy at Detroit Public Schools.

Silver Moore

Curriculum Creator

Silver Moore equips teachers across Detroit—and educators across the nation—with tools to deliver a racially equitable education and to provide Black children with educational experiences rooted in the beliefs that #BlackChildGenius is alive and well and that Black children are inherently valuable.

Moore’s career spans from being a high-performing middle school English Language Arts teacher, to now serving as a humanities instructional coach at University Prep Academy Art & Design Middle/High School, as well as engaging in curriculum and teacher development as the founder of Classroom Clapback.

Through Classroom Clapback curricula, training, and facilitation, Moore seeks to address the specific challenges and systemic inequalities Black youth face and build educational spaces that affirm Black youth free from racism, classism, adultism, and all forms of oppression and instead overflow with tenacious joy, stubborn hope, and radical wonder.

Rev. Larry Simmons, Sr.

Neighborhood Leader

Reverend Larry Simmons, Sr. is a community leader who builds collaborative, all-hands-on-deck approaches to support Detroit youth.

Rev. Simmons is executive director of Brightmoor Alliance, a coalition of nearly 50 organizations dedicated to serving the northwest Detroit community. He has led and collaborated on dozens of collective action coalitions including Every School Day Counts Detroit, the Coalition for the Future of Detroit School Children, and Hope Starts Here. He is a former pastor of Baber Memorial A.M.E. Church. Earlier in his career, he served as political director for Detroit’s first Black mayor, Coleman A. Young.

Rev. Simmons builds partnerships between schools, community members, companies, labor unions, city government, philanthropy, nonprofits, and more, all while positioning young people as leaders to be heard and followed. Throughout his impactful career, Rev. Simmons has remained joyfully driven by a commitment to children and young people.

Dr. Nikolai Vitti

Detroit Schools Superintendent

Dr. Nikolai Vitti is the second longest serving superintendent in Detroit Public Schools Community District’s history—and arguably the district’s most transformational.

Having stepped into the superintendent role at a time when Detroit Public Schools was undergoing significant operational and financial restructuring, Dr. Vitti has been an anchor of stability. He put the district on a path toward greater achievement and improved education for tens of thousands of Detroit children. Under his leadership, the district has seen its first improvement in decades in the areas of enrollment and financial management; student achievement; student attendance; teacher recruitment, retention, and pay; parental engagement; and student programming, including re-introduction of arts, sports, and music to all schools. Dr. Vitti has also worked to expand early childhood access, Montessori programs, afterschool programs, and mental health services.

Dr. Vitti works at all levels to create equity across Detroit’s public education system, from partnering at the grassroots to advocating for equitable education policy at the state and federal levels.

Marisol Bien Teachworth Walton

School Innovator

Marisol Bien Teachworth Walton is a lifelong Detroit educator and community organizer who fosters and amplifies the power of Detroit youth as creative thinkers and leaders who advocate for and construct a just future.

Teachworth co-founded The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, a community-based public charter school on the eastside of Detroit. The Boggs School, now in its 11th year, employs a placed-based model of learning for K-8 students that mixes traditional instruction with immersion in and service to the community around it.

Today, Teachworth co-leads the Detroit Summer program, first founded by James and Grace Lee Boggs, which has inspired hundreds of youth through art and service projects that question their assumptions, support their community, and advocate for their rights. Additionally, she is the director of youth development at the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation. Through all the hats she wears, Teachworth devotes her time to advancing educational equity and nurturing Detroit youth to be creative, critical thinkers who understand themselves and the power they possess.

Dawn Wilson-Clark

Parent Organizer

Dawn Wilson-Clark mobilizes parents across the city and state to advocate for a stronger, more equitable education system.

Wilson-Clark is a founding member of the Michigan Education Justice Coalition which organizes communities across the state to improve public education. She recently served as a parent organizer and researcher at 482Forward where she connected community leaders and organizations to legislators, hosting community conversations and leading trips to Lansing and Washington D.C. She has organized parents to increase student attendance, improve school conditions, end the state takeover of Detroit schools via the Education Achievement Authority, and support a successful literacy lawsuit against the State of Michigan brought by seven Detroit students.

Wilson-Clark is now establishing the Jonathon and Dawn Clark Health & Healing Center, renovating the site of the former Brightmoor Community Center where she and her late husband, Jonathon Clark, were married. The Center sits across the street from Gomper Elementary-Middle School and will offer holistic support for the neighborhood—especially its youth.

Juanita Zuniga

Youth Organizer

Juanita Zuniga embodies community-rooted, youth-led education advocacy.

In her role as lead organizer of 482Forward’s Youth Organizing Collective, Zuniga supports young Detroiters to advocate for the changes they want to see in the education system and lead their own policy advocacy campaigns. With her support, 482Forward’s Youth Organizing Collective has launched campaigns for equitable school funding and improving local school buildings and facilities. Last year, the collective created an interactive art exhibition “Your Brain on School” to highlight the critical need for mental health resources in schools.

Zuniga is also a contributing journalist for El Central Hispanic News, amplifying the voices and stories of southwest Detroit. She credits spending her high school years in the Girls Making Change program, begun by Senator Stephanie Chang, for her trajectory into social justice and policy work. Zuniga is a graduate of Detroit schools and native Detroiter.