PUSH Excel strives to be a world leader in promoting educational excellence and equity in funding and allocation of educational resources so that every child is guaranteed an opportunity to receive a quality education.
Advocating for educational policies that guarantee equal funding for all students without regard to race or economic standing;
Engaging parents, students, and teachers in pursuing high quality education and striving for educational excellence at every level;
Forging partnerships with community based and public sector stakeholders in education.
PUSH for Excellence, Inc. (PUSH Excel) is a tax-exempt organization founded in 1975 by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. and a number of nationally recognized educators to inspire students to strive for excellence in education in spite of personal, family, and community challenges that they might experience.
Rev. Jackson launched PUSH Excel as a national model program with the purpose of connecting principals, parents, popular personalities and students in a bond to have students at every level on the educational ladder to live the principals of, “If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it, I can achieve it!,” or the familiar phrase that Rev. Jackson opens many of his talks with students with, “I Am Somebody”. The PUSH Excel principles were adopted by school districts in every region of America by 1980.
PUSH Excel was recognized by the US Department of Education under President Jimmy Carter and was later touted as one of the most thoughtful and inspirational programs that inspired, black and brown students , to move beyond their circumstances of poverty, violence, and inadequate educational resources to achieve excellence through education and positive community involvement.

Judge Greg Mathis
Chairperson
PUSH Excel
PUSH Excel is committed to increasing opportunities for our youth by challenging them to strive for excellence in their academic studies and actively teaching them critical thinking skills.
With continued support, we shall affect great change in the minds of our most precious commodity, our children. PUSH Excel helped me and I believe that the program can assist other young people maximize their potential.

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
Founder/President
Rainbow PUSH Coalition
As I talk with young people these days, I am convinced that they are crying out for moral leadership and discipline. Their cry is evident in the schools, as it is on the streets and, most disturbingly, in the home. The moral vacuum in which our children are living and growing up breeds an environment of disorder that makes it difficult, perhaps impossible, for many of them to define and achieve excellence in their lives.
We need to provide for them a total refocusing of values away from nonproductive distractions and other elements of temptation. Rather, they must focus on those disciplines that will permit them to reach for and obtain the critical goal of academic excellence. This refocusing of values—the PUSH for Excellence—calls for greater commitment from teachers, greater involvement from parents, and greater discipline and harder work from students toward academic excellence.
PUSH for Excellence (PUSH Excel) brings together key stakeholders who affect the quality of education under the most likely roof — the schools. Successful implementation of the PUSH for Excellence philosophy will have far-reaching impact on every aspect of family and community life. It will unite the disparate elements of the community in pursuit of a common goal — better learning.
This national refocusing of our attention and energy on reclaiming our youth is imperative. The PUSH for Excellence multi-faceted approach has several key elements: Parent Power for Excellence; school adoption; Ora Lee Sanders Memorial Scholarships; Historically Black Colleges and Universities Tour; Tutoring; Academic Basketball League; Project S.O.A.R. (Schools Offering Academic Resources); and so much more.
Please join PUSH Excel’s crusade to save and empower our youth.

Rev. Dr. Janette Wilson, Esq.
National Director of Education
PUSH Excel
If one questions the power of words, ask Muhammad Ali, President Bill Clinton, Maya Angelou, Michael Jordan or Marva Collins. The power of words, along with a vision to succeed, will overcome any odds.
We must thrust into the minds of students that whoever they are and wherever they live, they can achieve quite literally whatever they can dream, no matter what anyone else may say to the contrary. When one considers that the future of our nation is being forged in today’s classrooms, it is clear that our education crisis is the single greatest issue we face. There never was a time in our national history when the need to improve our educational institutions was as desperate as the present. With facilities that are frequently unequal and inadequate, and with students and parents sometimes uncertain of the value of education, the prospects for the future are all too often bleak. Yet this is not a time to go back or give up. To do so would be to deny our children the rich and rewarding future that they deserve.
America can no longer tolerate failure, rampant mediocrity and the tragic loss of potential brain power. Dr. Ben Carson stated it best when he said, “I’ve come to have great respect for the brain and its capabilities. The brain can process two million bits of information per second, It remembers everything you’ve ever seen, everything you’ve ever heard, and with brains like these, we really shouldn’t be wandering around talking about what we can’t do; we should be trying to create an atmosphere that helps our young people realize that, whatever they can imagine, they can achieve.” If all young children were told that whatever they believe they can achieve, where would we be as a nation?
Education is fundamental to human progress but so is the belief that every child is “Somebody.” PUSH for Excellence (PUSH Excel) is committed to providing arenas where young people dream big dreams and live to see their actualization.
Judge Greg Mathis Co-Chairperson | Attorney Joyce Tucker Co-Chairperson | Rev. Dr. Janette Wilson, Esq. Executive Director |
Dr. Julianne Malveaux President | Larry Rogers, Jr., Esq. General Counsel | Jason Robinson College-Bound Director |
Joe Moore Treasurer | Morris Smith Secretary | Pat Harris |
Dr. Donna Leak | Tyrone Stoudemire | |
