Too often, the people making decisions about our schools don’t reflect the students they serve.
The Charter School Board Draft and the BLAQUE Kansas City Board Collective are changing that.
Every two years, BLAQUE Kansas City recruits and trains a new generation of community power—local leaders rooted in Kansas City and committed to its students. Over the course of three months, we offer these community members comprehensive training in everything from the local education landscape to fiduciary responsibility. We introduce them to charter schools looking for new board members and equip them with the tools they need to lead, govern, and drive real results for our students.
When BLAQUE Kansas City started the Charter School Board Draft in 2022, charter board leadership was overwhelmingly white, despite serving a student population that is 46% Black and 34.1% Latino. Many of those board members did not even live in our city. BLAQUE Kansas City understood that if we wanted our schools to deliver quality education for Black and Brown students, we had to transform school boards.
This year’s Charter School Board Draft—held on April 11, 2026, at Arrowhead Stadium—marked a defining moment for Kansas City.
Since our inception in 2020, we have placed over 50 community leaders on charter school boards. That’s 50 people who live in our neighborhoods, who share our students’ backgrounds, and who are ready to address some of the city’s biggest education dilemmas. But we know that our work doesn’t stop with those 50 board members.
We also know that our work can’t stop once a community leader is placed on a charter school board.
A seat at the table is only the beginning.
Board members need continued opportunities to sharpen their governance skills, learn from one another, navigate real-life challenges, and build the relationships that sustain effective leadership. That’s why we created the BLAQUE Kansas City Board Collective, a two-year leadership community that extends the work of the Charter School Board Draft.
Through six curated sessions focused on everything from data accountability and resource stewardship to community engagement and collective action, members will grow alongside their peers, strengthen their capacity to govern, and learn from innovative models both within and beyond Kansas City.
The Charter School Board Draft changes who gets a seat at the table. The Board Collective ensures they’re equipped to lead once they get there.
And when those leaders come together, the opportunity becomes even greater.
BLAQUE Kansas City is the common thread connecting our Charter School Board Draft alumni. We are a natural, neutral ground for cross-district collaboration. Through its three pillars—building, governing, and sustaining—the Board Collective creates a space for board leaders to develop shared strategies, align across districts, and remain in ongoing dialogue about the challenges and opportunities facing Kansas City’s students.
Because meaningful collective impact requires more than strong leaders on individual boards. It requires a community of leaders willing to work across institutions toward a shared vision for our children.
That work begins on September 10, when we bring our Board Collective members together for the first time. It will be an opportunity to reconnect, build relationships across schools, and begin shaping what this community of board leaders can accomplish together.
We look forward to welcoming our members and beginning this next chapter—one grounded in stronger governance, deeper collaboration, and a shared commitment to Kansas City’s children.
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About the Author:
Born and raised in Kansas City, Dr. Cokethea Hill-Woodard has devoted her career to transforming systems of inequity into pathways of opportunity. She is the Founder and CEO of BLAQUE Kansas City, a leading education advocacy organization strengthening the local educational system to ensure every Black child attending public schools in Kansas City has access to a high-quality, equitable, and empowering education.
Under her leadership, BLAQUE Kansas City has invested $1.8 million in three public charter schools and two education nonprofits, trained and placed more than 50 community leaders on local school boards, and secured a $13 million investment from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to launch Teach KC, a regional initiative that will bring 1,500 new teachers to the Kansas City region over the next 10 years.
A proud graduate of Kansas City Public Schools, Dr. Hill-Woodard earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Central Missouri, a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Avila University, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Kansas. She has served in elected leadership on both the Kansas City Public School Board and the Kansas City Council, and continues to shape public policy and community outcomes through appointments to key civic boards and commissions.