Helping Young Men Believe in What Is Possible
UpliftEducate helps Black and Latino boys strengthen their academic identity, believe in their abilities, and connect education to a future they can envision.
Through culturally responsive mentoring and curriculum, we help schools reach students who possess tremendous potential but may have stopped believing in it. Our framework is grounded in lived experience, two decades as an educator and school leader, and research demonstrating what helps students believe, persist, and succeed.
Our Founder
Dr. Olufemi Fadeyibi understands what can happen when a young person stops believing in his ability.
After being placed in special education as a child, he began to doubt his intelligence. He was suspended every year from first through twelfth grade and graduated near the bottom of his class.
His life changed in college when two people he respected told him he was smart. He began to believe in himself, persist through challenges, and eventually earned a master’s degree and doctorate.
That transformation became the foundation of UpliftEducate.
The words that changed everything
Turning Experience Into Measurable Change
As an educator, Dr. Fadeyibi saw his story reflected in many of the young men he served.
His dissertation research evaluated a school-based mentoring program he facilitated for African American and Latino male students. Participants demonstrated statistically significant gains in academic self-confidence and their ability to envision successful futures. They also experienced improved grade point averages and fewer disciplinary referrals.
Building the Solution
For more than 20 years, Dr. Fadeyibi has served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, researcher, and organizational leader.
Mathematics Civics and Science Charter School
As school principal, he led efforts that produced the highest English Language Arts growth among 243 Philadelphia public schools that year (2016–2017 SY).
Penn Treaty School
As Ninth-Grade Principal, his mentoring and schoolwide interventions contributed to the district’s largest increase in ninth-grade On-Track rates, including the largest gains for Black and Latino boys within the School District of Philadelphia (2021–2022 SY).
Our Mission and Impact
UpliftEducate helps students:
- Believe in their academic abilities
- Connect education to meaningful goals
- Develop confidence, resilience, and self-awareness
- Persist through academic and personal challenges
- Make decisions that support the future they want
Today, our curriculum has been purchased by schools across the region, and our mentoring initiatives have reached students throughout Philadelphia and New Jersey.
Schools using our curriculum
Public & charter schools with our mentoring programs
Young people reached
Our dedicated team has contributed to academic growth, stronger student confidence, improved On-Track rates, and fewer disciplinary referrals for the students we serve.
Our Vision
We envision Black and Latino males owning their education at all costs. Every day, UpliftEducate helps young adolescent males of color recognize that their potential is far greater than they may have imagined.