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A new Memphis group has joined a network of local organizations supporting the state takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
Together4Students launched in May, around the same time that Nashville Republicans passed a law establishing a state-appointed oversight board to take control of MSCS. The group’s website advocates for using the state intervention to pursue ambitious achievement goals for MSCS, including doubling the number of students in high-performing schools by 2035.
The group was founded by Henry Jones, former director of organizing for Memphis nonprofit Leadership for Educational Equity, and Mark Sturgis, who leads longtime education advocacy organization Seeding Success.
Together4Students is the latest group jockeying for influence in Memphis’ education advocacy space, which was once flush with federal investment and local heavy hitters but has since dwindled in dollars and voices. The group is backing the state takeover and partnering with the decade-old parents’ rights organization Memphis Lift.
Not all education advocacy groups are backing the takeover. Some have been fighting state intervention for years, including by partnering with MSCS leaders last fall to rally parent support.
Jones said Together4Students is still gathering local organizations to partner with and recruiting fellows ages 16 to 25 to create a “pipeline of organizing” through leadership training. The group is also seeking 2,500 signatures for a petition calling on MSCS to drop its lawsuit challenging the state takeover, with over 300 collected as of Tuesday.
In early July, a federal judge granted MSCS an early win in the case by temporarily blocking the state oversight board from beginning its operations.
Jones said fellows are receiving a stipend for their work through his independent project, the Change the Game Fellowship, which launched in 2022. He pays fellows using money he’s earned from consulting work, but declined to say the exact amount.
Together4Students is not an official nonprofit organization, Jones said, and isn’t currently receiving any local or national funding.
But Jones said the group has a “strategy team” of local organization leaders who meet each month. He declined to name which organizations are involved.
“Like many early-stage nonprofits or grassroots efforts, [Together4Students] has relied on volunteers, in-kind support, and community relationships as we get established,” he wrote in an email to Chalkbeat, with Seeding Success and Memphis Lift being two of those community relationships.
On its website, Together4Students lists two goals for MSCS in the next decade. The group wants 80% of MSCS students to attend schools receiving A or B ratings from the state, up from 38% now. That includes a 2030 goal of having around 23,000 more students attend those highly rated schools.
Group leaders also want 80% of MSCS students “on a clear path to a rewarding career” by 2035, meaning they have a college acceptance or trade credential by the time they graduate.
Though the group backs the new oversight board, Jones said Together4Students isn’t explicitly against MSCS or the local school board. Instead, it’s rooting for district improvement regardless of who is in charge.
“We don’t really see the oversight board being any different from the school board,” he said. “If the oversight board doesn’t serve kids well, we’re going to be on them.”
Education won’t be the group’s only focus, Jones told Chalkbeat. The fellows he recruits for the team will choose its next priority, he said.
“Six months from now, we might be building a campaign around gun violence,” Jones said. “We’re hoping to build a variety of campaigns around accountability, whether it’s for the state-appointed board, whether it’s county commissioners, city council, or the local school board.”
On a call with Chalkbeat, five of Together4Students’ seven fellows said violence is the main issue they want to solve. But Unveyunce Fitch, the mother of an MSCS kindergartner and a Booker T. Washington graduate, said she joined as a group leader to push for education reform.
“As a single mom who graduated at the top of my class, I know how hard it is to get an education in Memphis,” she said. “Students shouldn’t have to fight so hard, and parents shouldn’t have to ask for accountability.”
This story has been updated to include information about the Change the Game Fellowship and clarify that Jones no longer works for Leadership for Educational Equity. He left his position in June 2026.
Bri Hatch covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Bri at bhatch@chalkbeat.org.
