Jeanette Mitchell, who founded the African American Leadership Alliance of Milwaukee in 2017 and served for three years as Milwaukee School Board president, died Sunday.
Mitchell's eight-year stretch on the school board in the 1980s and '90s spanned three superintendents. She was known for her passion for education in the city.
"She cared more about the kids than the institution that serves the kids," said Howard Fuller, professor emeritus of education at Marquette University who was superintendent of MPS when Mitchell was on the school board.
She started her career in the corporate sector at Wisconsin Bell, which became Ameritech/SBC/AT&T. After more than 30 years in the business world, Mitchell worked at Bader Philanthropies as an education program officer for eight years, screening grants for local education initiatives.
"She was just one of the most determined people I've ever met. And when she thought that something needed to get done, she just had this incredible determination to do it," said Dan Bader, founding CEO of what was then called the Helen Bader Foundation.
During Mitchell's time at the foundation, education in Milwaukee was shifting as more charter schools were opening. Bader said she had a unique talent at connecting with people in a variety of settings, from the boardroom to the classroom.
Mitchell then went back to school at Cardinal Stritch University, where she earned her doctorate in leadership for the advancement of learning and service and served as program director for the university's Leadership Center.
In 2008, Mitchell founded the African American Leadership Program, which was later incorporated into the larger AALAM.
"AALP was her brain child, her baby. It was, I think, one of the highlights of her life," Bader said. "It was sort of the bread and butter of what she did — working with individuals and helping each individual become a leader, and doing that in the cohort model."
AALAM came from a three-day planning exercise that tried to expand on the promise of AALP and imagine what African-American leadership could look like in Milwaukee, Bader said. The network aims to recruit and retain the number of African Americans in leadership roles in the city.
Genyne Edwards, a partner and co-founder at P3 Development Group who worked with Mitchell across the years, said her drive to start these programs was based on her own experience.
"Some of her own lived experiences as a Black professional working at Ameritech were very isolating for her, and she made a commitment to herself, as well as to herself in the Milwaukee community and others that if she had the ability and the power and influence to change that feeling of isolation and lack of support for other Black leaders," then she would, Edwards said.
Last August, Mitchell was named the 2023 Business Champion by the African American Chamber of Commerce, and she was recently honored at an AALP graduation party in June, where she officially retired from the program.
Recently, Mitchell continued to lead her consulting business — Leadership by Dr. Jeanette — and was helping consult for a new leadership initiative at Bader Philanthropies.
"She wasn't done in her work in developing the African American leadership group in Milwaukee," Bader said. "It (her death) leaves a hole in the broader community, and it leaves a hole in the African American community."
But her friends and family will remember her for her infectious laugh and relentless optimism. Reactions to her death have poured out on social media.
"Jeanette was the matriarch of our family, and a pillar of strength, wisdom and love for us all," a statement from the family reads.
Bader said you knew when she was in the building just from the sound of her laughter.
"I am a fundamental pessimist, and Jeanette is a fundamental optimist," Fuller said. "I'm trying to let her optimism get infused into my spirit, because that's the way she was."
Mitchell is survived by her three daughters, Pamela Mitchell (Paco Zayas), Yvonne Mitchell and Yvette D. Murrell; grandson, Warren Ramsey Braden II; and siblings, Barbara Holt, Robert L. Reed Jr., Qurone Williams and Terrence Reed (Nobie Reed).
The family will host a community celebration of life from 2 to 4 p.m. Sept. 14 at the Marcus Center. Memorials should be directed to the Dr. Jeanette Mitchell Legacy Fund at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.
Contact Kathryn Muchnick atKMuchnick@gannett.com or 812-568-4468.
