Black Education For New Orleans

Raise your hand if you’re excited for the holiday break! Us tooooo. ✨ Fam, we’re offline, offline until early January for some much needed rest, but we’ll catch you in 2026 ready to build, learn, and lead. Until then, Merry Christmas and happy holidays from BE NOLA. 🖤

✨✨ An Open Letter To Our Community ✨✨

To Our Community,

BE NOLA was founded to respond to the systemic challenges facing Black educators and Black-governed, Black-led schools in New Orleans. Our mission has always been urgent: to support and strengthen Black educators on behalf of our children.

That urgency remains. In fact, it has only grown.

But we are in a different moment. The environment for organizations like ours is changing quickly, and we are choosing to move with intention. To stay strong, we are making two shifts that will help BE NOLA continue its work for years to come.

🔗 Read the full open letter: https://mailchi.mp/ae9602a5d375/openletter

We’re excited to continue our work advancing educational equity in our community with help from from The Starbucks Foundation! Thanks to Starbucks partners for recognizing how we are making our communities stronger. This grant will help us invest directly in the educators shaping the future of New Orleans.

We’re still feeling the , all capsss ✨ At this year’s National Black Is Brilliant Summit, Powered by Entergy, 600 of y’all across 85+ zip codes, 20+ states, and every corner of our community pulled up deep! Thank y’all for rocking with us cause we rocking with youuuu! Swipe to see some of our fave moments of Summit.

We’re proud of who filled the room:

• 62% Louisiana-based, with most from New Orleans
• 38% joined us from across the nation
• 50% current or former PreK–12 educators
• 30 graduate students sponsored by Dillard, Xavier, and Tulane
• 43 high school juniors & seniors through our partnership with Inspire NOLA’s Grow Your Own Network
• And nonprofit leaders, artists, parents, cultural workers, and students.

Grateful for all who brought their brilliance to the space. We couldn’t do it without you! 🫶🏽🖤

Fam, the sun’s setting earlier, the days feel shorter, and it’s cold outside! As daylight savings shifts our energy, we’re thinking about this wellness moment during our Black Is Brilliant Summit. At the Wellness in Motion Workshop sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, ’s Jazz Johnson reminded us that movement is medicine and there’s a clear connection between moving the body and protecting your mental health! Whether it’s dancing in the classroom, stretching between meetings, or taking a walk to your favorite BE NOLA playlist, movement is how we keep ourselves in our “right mind” — as the elders say. 🙏🏽

📸: x

We are thrilled to congratulate our Executive Director, Adrinda Kelly, on being selected as a recipient of the Greater New Orleans Funders Network’s Restoration and Rejuvenation Initiative Community Champion Distinguished Service Award! This recognition affirms what we see every day — Drin's steady leadership shapes systems, strengthens community, and inspires all of us to imagine what’s possible.

Thank you to Greater New Orleans Funders Network for uplifting the wellbeing of leaders doing vital work in our region. We are so proud of you, Adrinda.

Learn more: https://www.gnofundersnetwork.org/blog/0wdsm2rm7gwk3rfmvopcdjf7z6wxn8

Sixty-five years ago, Gail Etienne, Tessie Prevost, Leona Tate, and Ruby Bridges reshaped the future of public education in New Orleans and across the nation. Their courage opened doors that millions of students now walk through every day. Their legacy reminds us why preserving Black history - which is largely a history of resistance to oppression - is especially critical now. We must all do our part to uplift the stories that strengthen our schools, our educators, and our children and hold those stories in their full complexity and humanity.

BE NOLA was proud to honor the New Orleans Four as Black Is Brilliant Honorees at the 2025 Black Is Summit and to support the inaugural New Orleans Four Day Civil Rights Legacy Parade in 2024. Deep love and gratitude to  CEO of the New Orleans Four Legacy Project, Ms. Gail Etienne, whose leadership alongside her “sisters for life” ensures their story is remembered and protected for generations to come.

As we reflect on their legacy, may we recommit to ensuring every child and every classroom continues to benefit from the path they paved.

We’re grateful to see thoughtful coverage from Education NC capturing the heart of this year’s Black is Brilliant Summit — a gathering where educators, artists, and advocates came together to reflect, reimagine, and build toward a more grounded future for Black education.

As our Executive Director Adrinda Kelly shared, rebuilding is never about starting from scratch — it’s about recognizing the brilliance, legacy, and leadership that have always existed in our schools and neighborhoods.

Read more:

The Black is Brilliant Summit: Educators reflect on resilience following natural disasters EdNC crossed time zones to hear about long-term natural disaster recovery in the eyes of educators in Louisiana. Here is what they said.

All we can say is our fam, our fam, our fam. Thank you to our fam. 🫶🏽 From the opening beats at The Barnett to the final second line in the streets, you made the Black Is Brilliant Summit, powered by Entergy, everything we dreamed it could be: joyful, powerful, and overflowing with brilliance. Y’all did that.

And the fire part is, because of you and our incredible sponsors, we were able to gift over $80,000 in tickets so that educators could attend at NO COST! Every conversation, every connection, and every classroom this touches is part of that collective impact.

Thank you for investing in the brilliance of Black educators and leaders. Your support made this possible. 💫

And to everyone who danced, reflected, learned, cried, or laughed with us, your energy built something beautiful.

📸 Photos are coming soon cause we know you want to post on tha grammm and be a boss on LinkedIn! Until then, tag us as you share your favorite moments. We can’t wait to see Summit through your eyes.

We wanted to do a special post because there’s always that one partner who sets the tone for what community commitment looks like— for us, that’s .allen.consulting . 💫 Year after year, is the FIRST to say “yes” to the Black Is Brilliant Summit. From hosting our Black Is Brilliant Institute Fellows in her beautiful space to standing beside us in purpose and partnership, she continues to model what it means to invest deeply in Black educators and the brilliance they nurture every day.

& in a moment where some may shy away from the work, she’s doubled down. Thank you, Krystal and the whole team, for believing in the power of this movement, and the power of our educators. 🖤 You’ve been rocking w/ us foreverrrrr and we love you deep.

A Signature Brunch — sponsored by Cox — is about to begin at the Summit! We’re grateful to Cox for fueling this moment of connection, reflection, and celebration as we celebrate educators. 💫 Brunch is served, brilliance is flowing, and we’re just getting started. ✨

Learn more: bibsummit.org