We are delighted to announce that the Educating All Learners Alliance has selected the 2025 New Champion for the EALA New Champions Fund.

After careful consideration of all the applications, we are pleased to name Lisa Mosko Barros of  SpEducational as the 2025 EALA New Champion. Christopher Roblész, Math N’ More, Matt Cheek, Nashville Teacher Residency (NTR), and Nawwal Moustafa, Open School East, are named as 2025 New Champion Runners-Up.

Thank you to everyone who applied for EALA 2025 New Champions Fund opportunity. We received over 200 applications this year and our expert judges are hard at work reviewing and leaving feedback on applications.

Congratulations to each of these deserving champions and thank you to everyone who applied for the New Champions Fund. We were truly inspired by the quality of the proposals and the dedication of all applicants.

Applicants can check the status of their application by using the submission portal below.

2025 New Champion: Lisa Mosko Barros, SpEducational

Meet our 2025 New Champion, Lisa Mosko Barros of SpEducational! She is empowering families and communities to advocate for all learners in the greater Los Angeles area, transforming how schools, parents, and students engage in the IEP process.

Lisa Mosko Barros is the founder of SpEducational, a non-profit organization focused on empowering families of students with disabilities to effect positive systems change in special education. Known for her deep policy expertise and collaborative leadership, Lisa has held key advocacy roles with the Oakland REACH, Speak UP, and LAUSD’s Special Education CAC.

The IEP Empowerment Fellowship (led by Barros) will train parents of students with disabilities in Los Angeles County to become IEP experts and advocacy leaders. With support from the EALA Champion Fund, the fellowship will expand its workshops and community organizing efforts, and co-create family-focused surveys, data reports, and toolkits.

This year’s runners-up are:

Dr. Christopher Roblész, Math N’ More

Dr. Christopher Roblész is the Founder and CEO of Math N’ More, a movement to close the math achievement gap for underrepresented scholars from historically underserved communities across Metro Atlanta. With over a decade of experience in school leadership and curriculum implementation, Dr. Roblész combines strategic vision with grassroots engagement.

Math N’ More was founded in 2020 to support all learners, especially K-12 and exceptional education students, in achieving success in math. With a mission to provide engaging, accessible, and FUN STEA(M) education, they’re moving the needle for students and families through advocacy, confidence-building, and measurable academic gains.

Matt Cheek, Nashville Teacher Residency

Matt Cheek is the Executive Director of the Nashville Teacher Residency (NTR), where he leads strategy, operations, fundraising, and external partnerships to grow and sustain the program’s impact. Under his leadership, NTR has expanded access to the teaching profession by creating a no-cost pathway for individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences to become licensed teachers. The program now reaches more schools than ever and will launch a new Special Education licensure pathway this summer.

NTR recruits and trains passionate and local teacher candidates to become high-performing middle and high school math and English teachers in Middle Tennessee’s district and charter schools.

Nawwal Moustafa, Open School

Nawwal Moustafa is the Principal of Open School East, an alternative high school in Portland, Oregon. She brings over 12 years of experience designing and implementing innovative school models, with a focus on middle and high school grades. Nawwal has a proven track record of embedding universal practices, personalized learning, and student-driven approaches into existing systems. Her leadership is grounded in unwavering warmth, high accountability, and a culture of frequent celebration, creating a school community where even the most previously disengaged students are empowered to redefine their relationship with education.

Founded in 1967 as a drop-in center for youth experiencing homelessness, Open School Inc. has evolved into a regionally recognized leader in relationship-based education, alternative school models, and student advocacy.

Submission Portal

Check on the status of your application and view feedback after the 2025 New Champions are announced by logging into our Application Submission Portal.

What’s included?

• Funding: A one-year $35,000 unrestricted sub-grant.
• Mentorship: A one-year mentorship is provided to leadership to accomplish strategic goals.
• New Champions Retreat: This in-person event, planned for late June 2025, will bring together current and former New Champions to launch the mentorship program and collaborate on strategic goals.
• Participation in National Events:  EALA will work with the New Champions to spotlight their work through various media channels, podcasts, webinars, and national conferences to highlight the work of the organizations

Additionally, EALA will provide three additional $5,000 sub-grants per year to runners-up as determined by the panel of New Champions judges.

As a part of this process, funding applications are vetted by the EALA review team and reviewed by the New Champions Fund Judges using this EALA New Champions Rubric.

Explore the Request for Proposals document below. Make a copy and draft your responses before navigating to the Submission Portal.

Are you a leader(s) of community-based organizations (CBOs), schools and districts, non-profits, or for-profit organizations that are under $2 million in annual revenue?

Are you a leader of color or an ally of advancing access and inclusion in education?

Are you actively working to support students with disabilities, including students who are marginalized or come from underserved communities and those experiencing poverty?”

As we are actively looking for applicants who are not- yet-recognized for their exceptional work and who may be first time grant applicants or someone who is unsure about the grant-application process, we want to support you through this grant application process.

Please keep in mind that we are looking to fund a new champion who is actively working to support students with disabilities, including students who are marginalized or come from underserved communities and those experiencing poverty. When writing your responses to the proposal questions, please keep in mind the focus on serving these communities of learners.

Additionally, before completing your submission, please review the EALA New Champions Rubric the judges will be using to determine the 2024 New Champion.

The New Champions Judges are leaders in the cross-section of equity, innovation, and education.

Together, they represent a diverse collective of industry leaders in the non-profit, advocacy, digital literacy, K-12 education and edtech sectors, all committed to advancing equity and opportunity in the field.

Past Champions

2022 New Champion, Dena Simmons Ed.D

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2022 Runner Up, Dr. Charles Cole III

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2022 Runner Up, Dr. Leena Bakshi McLean

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2023 New Champion, Kim Riley

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2023 Runner Up, Antoinette Banks

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2023 Runner Up, Nekia Wright

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2024 Champion, Lovisa Brown

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2024 Runner Up, Erika Watson

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2024 Runner Up, Rina Madhani

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