2025 MELA Nominations are open! Nominate an educator here.

What is MELA?

The Minneapolis Educator Leadership Awards (MELA) were created to recognize Title I Minneapolis Public School District educators, principals, paraprofessionals, and support staff working consistently with students in a school, for their leadership outside their classroom or defined job duties. We intend to recognize and elevate hardworking professionals diligently educating our children, who often do not get the credit they deserve.

The MELA nomination and selection process is entirely teacher driven. Candidates for the award are nominated by their peers, students, parents, or anyone who admires their work as educators. Finalists are selected by a committee of teachers, administrators, and support staff actively working in the Minneapolis public school district.

The award comes with the responsibility of completing a proposal with AchieveMpls for up to $10,000 in funding for a one- or two-year grant to improve the nominee’s school. The committee awards up to $75,000 in grants annually.

Nominations are OPEN!

2025 MELA nominations are open November 11, 2024-January 21, 2025. Nominate an educator here. The committee reviews nominations annually. Educators must be nominated by a peer. All identifying information is removed from nominations before being reviewed. Committee members who have a relationship with a nominee are prohibited from reviewing that nominee’s nomination.

Finalists

To receive a MELA award, finalists chosen by the MELA committee must submit and commit to a proposal to make an impact in their school community.

Award Reception

An award reception will be held to honor recipients with their principal, school district administrators, and elected officials. Each award winner will be recognized for their outstanding work. The reception will also highlight recipients’ grant-funded projects.

Implementation

In accepting the Minneapolis Educator Leadership Award, each recipient agrees to use the funds as described in their submitted proposal. The Graves Family Foundation will check in throughout the school year with award recipients to demonstrate their grant-funded program’s success. Updates will be shared with the greater Minneapolis community through this website.

Congratulations to our 2024 MELA Award winners!

Angie Cisneros Rosero, Wellstone International School, “Lion Tracks: Podcasting at Wellstone”
Diane Hahn, Emerson Dual Language School, “Bringing Student-Driven English Language Development to Life”
Jacquelyn Schwartz, Seward Montessori, “Outdoor Learning”
Kai Gray, Transition Plus, “Cooking, Foodservice, and Independence”
Katie Murphy-Olsen, Edison High School, “Let’s Learn Outside, Together!”
Mia Robinson, Ella Baker Global Studies & Humanities Magnet School, “Connecting with Place and History Through Our Elders”
Ruth Ann Martin, Nellie Stone Johnson Elementary, “Snap! & Living Things! STEM Projects Stepping Up Kindergarten Science!”
Ruth LeMay, MPS Online, “Music Education for the Virtual Classroom”
Sarah Cooper Evans, Andersen Middle School, “Expanding Student Voices”
Maria Froud Martinez, Las Estrellas, Green Central, & Emerson Elementary Schools, Andersen Middle School, & Roosevelt High School, “Creciendo Juntos: Sembrando Liderazgo Bilingüe en los Parques" (Growing Together: Planting Bilingual Leadership in Parks)”