Dr. Jennifer Blackwell serves as the Director of Multilingual Learner Success for Richmond Public Schools. In this role, she leads with a vision grounded in equity, language justice, and the belief that all multilingual learners deserve culturally affirming, rigorous, and relevant educational experiences that honor their identities and aspirations.

A bilingual educator and transformative systems thinker, Dr. Blackwell has dedicated her career to advancing policies and practices that dismantle barriers for historically underserved students. Under her leadership, the district has increased the graduation rate for multilingual learners by 19%, launched innovative alternative pathways to graduation (such as Con Ganas and Test Takers Academy), and established a comprehensive professional learning plan on inclusive language-rich instruction. She also led the design and launch of Richmond’s Immigration Resource Hub and spearheaded district responses to immigration policy shifts—ensuring multilingual families and staff remain informed and supported.

Prior to her current role, Dr. Blackwell served as Assistant Principal at George Wythe High School, where she developed evidence-based programs that raised graduation rates for multilingual learners and strengthened school-family-community engagement. Her earlier experience includes roles as a division-level English Learner Success Specialist and school counselor, where she redesigned the district’s Language Instruction Educational Programs and achieved significant reductions in dropout rates.

Jennifer is also a passionate advocate and coalition-builder, known for her ability to translate data into action, unite stakeholders, and create sustainable, student-centered change. She holds a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from Virginia Commonwealth University, an M.Ed. in Counselor Education from the University of Virginia, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Liberty University.