Welcoming Schools Annual Report 2026

In 2025, while facing a year of unprecedented, coordinated pressure on LGBTQ+ youth and schools, Welcoming Schools didn't just hold the line—we advanced it. Even amid current challenges, Welcoming Schools meets this moment with clarity and resolve by deepening its commitment to educational equity and inclusion by sustaining its focus on proactive policy guidance, inclusive curriculum, and adult capacity-building, ensuring that schools remain spaces where every student, especially those most vulnerable, can experience dignity, protection, and the conditions necessary for learning and thriving.

Welcoming Schools knows that the people who are most impacted by the damaging effects of the current push to restrict LGBTQ+ inclusion in education are the students themselves. When an 11th grader felt the impact of this, she immediately felt unsafe and unsure. She met with her school to take a step she wished she never had to consider. “This year I asked my school to change my name back to what it was when I enrolled. I really wish I didn’t have to do this, but it feels like it is a safer thing to do, even if it makes me feel like I have to go back into hiding who I am.” This is why our work is more urgent now than ever.

Despite hostile rollbacks to Title IX and attempts to restrict inclusive curricula nationwide, Welcoming Schools met the moment with compassion, community and action. We chose expansion over retreat, turning a year of opposition into a year of record growth and undeniable wins for student safety and for school communities across the country.

To address the volatility of the current climate, we countered instability with decisive innovation. We released our first-ever K-12 rapid response tools, providing immediate clarity for students, families, and educators. This ensured that even as policy landscapes shifted abruptly, our communities remained equipped with the necessary resources to navigate challenges and maintain welcoming schools.

Welcoming Schools anchored the defense of inclusive education with the most robust and accessible collection of resources in our history. Through a nationwide network of facilitators, Welcoming Schools mobilized to deliver critical, research-backed professional development to the educators standing on the front lines—from classroom teachers to administrators—in every region of the country. We evolved our strategy by creating flexible and accessible professional development, significantly expanding our impact on schools.

This year, we empowered over 30,000 educators, creating a foundation of safety and inclusion that impacted more than 1.6 million students. Welcoming Schools recognizes that inclusivity must exist beyond the school bell, leading us to expand our programming to include summer camps and out-of-school time staff, ensuring youth are affirmed both inside and outside the classroom.

In a year marked by unprecedented challenges for LGBTQ+ youth, data underscores the critical role of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Welcoming Schools program. The urgency of our work is highlighted by the harsh realities documented in our One Year In report, which details the escalating legislative attacks under the current administration. Against this backdrop of rising anti-trans rhetoric and policy, Welcoming Schools has served as a vital shield and resource.

Our data reveals a transformative shift in educator confidence and capability.

This surge in educator efficacy is not just a statistic; it represents a potential positive impact on over 1.8 million students who now have access to more knowledgeable, supportive adults in their daily lives.

The demand for our resources reflects the resilience of school communities striving for inclusion despite political headwinds. Our most popular module, Creating LGBTQ+ Inclusive Schools, demonstrates that educators are actively seeking tools to foster environments where all children can thrive. As we look forward, this data serves as both a testament to our progress and a mandate for our future work: to ensure that every student, regardless of zip code or identity, attends a school that welcomes them, their family, and their full self.

This year, Welcoming Schools continued to strengthen and expand our District Partnership model, welcoming three new districts from Delaware, Massachusetts and Minnesota. Our work this year focused on strategic program implementation and meaningful expansion of the program with current districts. 

Amid significant shifts in education policy and the unique challenges school districts faced this year in a rapidly changing landscape, District Partnerships remain a critical strategy for the sustainability of our program locally. By preparing educators with the confidence and competency to support LGBTQ+ students, Welcoming Schools helps districts create school environments where all students can thrive. 

Hopkins Public Schools, a district comprising one high school, two middle schools, and five elementary schools, has partnered with Welcoming Schools this year to build safer, more inclusive learning environments. Under the leadership of Laura Jensen, a district Reading Specialist and the designated LGBTQ+ Liaison, Hopkins Public Schools has embarked on a comprehensive three-year partnership with HRC’s Welcoming Schools. Currently in the second year of this initiative, the district has taken a strategic approach to implementation. Jensen launched the program during "Welcome Back" week to generate initial buy-in, but the program’s success is largely due to the tangible support provided to staff. By offering microcredits for certified teachers and stipends for paraprofessionals, the district ensured that the training reached a large portion of the educational community, encouraging participation beyond those already engaged in equity work.

The program has scaled rapidly from a pilot in three elementary schools to a district-wide movement. This year, Jensen coordinated three large-scale sessions covering all six Welcoming Schools modules, reaching cohorts of approximately 80 educators across elementary and high school levels. The reach is continuing to expand, with offerings now extending to early childhood education and adult education administrative staff. This vertical integration ensures that students experience a consistent, affirming environment from their first day of Pre-K through graduation.

The impact of this partnership is already visible in the district’s culture and curriculum. Jensen reports high satisfaction rates among participants, noting a shift where staff feel a sense of personal ownership and genuine commitment to the work. In practice, this has translated into educators feeling more confident answering student questions, supporting diverse families, and integrating inclusive read-aloud books into their literacy instruction. Through Jensen’s coordination, the Welcoming Schools curriculum has provided the specific tools necessary to turn the district’s values of inclusivity into everyday classroom practice.

As policy battles escalated this year, Welcoming Schools expanded beyond direct educator training into comprehensive school advocacy. We became a critical infrastructure hub for resisting censorship and harmful legislation by tracking school-level policy threats and identifying key battlegrounds. This strategic pivot allowed our team to serve as a reliable source of clarity during moments of chaos, ensuring that accurate information and messages of support reached school communities quickly.

The Welcoming Schools Advocacy page, including our Chalkboard, was created to provide easy access to current issues and resources related to school boards. This resource, updated with new advocacy content, provides educators, parents, and community members with the tools needed to foster LGBTQ+ and gender-inclusive learning environments. It offers actionable resources, such as policy guidelines, advocacy frameworks, and strategies for navigating community pushback, all designed to help users actively defend inclusive education and combat bias-based bullying. Ultimately, this resource empowers advocates to champion systemic changes that ensure all students and diverse families feel safe, respected, and supported in their schools.

To equip educators and caregivers with practical actions they can take immediately, we published rapid-response toolkits, including the School Boards Matter Guide and Confronting Censorship. We also created detailed guides for navigating restrictive policies while still supporting LGBTQ+ children, alongside classroom-ready tools designed to sustain inclusion. These resources ensure that educators can continue to foster safe environments even when hostile attacks attempt to undermine their efforts.

Dedicated Voices: 
Our Ambassadors

One of our most significant milestones this year was the successful launch and rapid expansion of the Welcoming Schools Ambassador Program. This growing network now includes 80 Ambassadors across 25 states who serve as dedicated on-the-ground leaders for inclusion in their regions. Composed of educators, counselors, librarians, and higher education faculty, these professionals receive specialized training in our core modules and advocacy strategies to drive meaningful change within their own communities. This training is free, fully virtual and offered through our e-learning platform.

These Ambassadors transform our resources into action by promoting inclusive books and professional development while creating a vital feedback loop with our national team. By sharing real-time local insights, they enable us to strengthen our campaigns and litigation efforts with specific, on-the-ground intelligence. 

This initiative represents a fundamental shift toward building the long-term local power necessary to withstand political headwinds. By mobilizing their communities to respond to hostile policies and misinformation, these Ambassadors provide the stability and leadership required to protect student rights. This infrastructure ensures that the work of creating safe, welcoming schools is sustainable and deeply rooted in local expertise.

Meeting the Moment Locally: 
School Board Support

As school boards increasingly became the epicenter of political attacks on inclusive education, Welcoming Schools responded by deepening our strategic engagement through a partnership with the School Board Integrity Project. Recognizing that local governance is a critical firewall for student safety, we worked together to demystify the impact of board decisions for communities while training a new generation of pro-equality citizens and advocates to hold the line.

Through this partnership, our team empowered communities to organize effectively around school board meetings and influence district-level decisions. We provided critical training for LGBTQ+ affirming candidates and equipped families with messaging tools designed to combat misinformation. By increasing local engagement and defending inclusive policies at the source, this work helped educators and parents counter harmful narratives and successfully protect the practices that keep schools welcoming for all students.

The HRC School Advocacy Summit: Sparking Action

In March, the Welcoming Schools team hosted the first-ever HRC School Advocacy Summit, bringing together educators, youth-serving professionals, and community advocates who are working together to build safe and welcoming schools for LGBTQ+ youth. This year’s Summit welcomed 48 participants representing 15 states, reflecting areas where local controversy has impacted school cultures and where work will happen to support key school board races and voter education. 

Summit participants strengthened their understanding of the rapidly shifting K-12 policy landscape, local organizing strategies and personal storytelling skills to build people power and change the way people think about LGBTQ+ youth and families. Check out this video from the Summit to see some of the magic created!

Educators are navigating a complex landscape of new legal rulings and rising censorship. To meet this moment, Welcoming Schools released a comprehensive suite of eleven new resources designed to provide legal clarity, advocacy tools, and robust mental health support. We released our first-ever student-facing resources, including a mental health well-being guide. With multiple decisions coming from the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), we released guides for educators to support students directly impacted by SCOTUS decisions. These resources increased awareness and inspired action, along with our annual back-to-school resources for educators and school staff who navigated a year of uncertainty and major rollbacks for education policy. 

From mental health guides for families and staff to the Making the Grade guide for finding inclusive schools, this toolkit ensures that every stakeholder, including educators, caregivers, and students, is prepared to start the year with confidence and resilience. Beyond legal guidance, we are shifting to offense with our School Boards Matter series, empowering communities to combat censorship and defend inclusive policies. We are also proud to debut our first-ever student-facing resources, offering youth-specific tools for GSA organizing, community care, and navigating the transition to college. See below for more information about our new resources this year.

Rapid Response: School Boards Matter

Sustainable change requires more than knowledgeable educators; it demands a supportive district-wide infrastructure. Recognizing that local school boards have become the new frontline for LGBTQ+ rights, we launched the School Boards Matter guide and Confronting Censorship, a strategic blueprint designed to move communities from passive support to active defense.

This resource operationalizes the offense strategy outlined in our One Year In report. By demystifying the democratic process, the guide empowers parents, caregivers, and allies to effectively engage with district leadership. It provides the essential toolkit to hold the ground against book bans and policy rollbacks, ensuring that the inclusive environments our trained educators create are protected at the policy level.

In FY26, this guide serves as a critical anchor for our community organizing efforts. It transforms anxiety into action, equipping thousands of advocates with the confidence to speak at public comment periods, run for open seats, and vote for candidates who champion the dignity of all students. By coupling professional development inside the classroom with robust civic engagement outside of it, Welcoming Schools is building a fortress of support around LGBTQ+ youth that is resilient to political shifts.

Rapid Response: SCOTUS Ruling Briefs

This year, the Supreme Court issued rulings that fundamentally altered the rights of LGBTQ+ youth and the landscape of public education, and Welcoming Schools responded immediately with clear, actionable guidance. Recognizing that legal ambiguity often leads to administrative paralysis, we developed targeted resources addressing the U.S. v. Skrmetti and Mahmoud v. Taylor decisions. These guides were designed to cut through the noise of political polarization, providing educators with the clarity needed to remain focused on their primary duty: ensuring every child feels safe and valued in their classroom. By demystifying the limits of these rulings, we are preventing the "chilling effect" that often causes districts to unnecessarily retreat from inclusive best practices.

Our guidance regarding U.S. v. Skrmetti emphasizes that while educators cannot control state bans on gender-affirming healthcare, they possess the power to mitigate the mental health impacts of these decisions. Highlighting data that one affirming adult can reduce negative mental health outcomes by 40%, this resource empowers staff to double down on visible support—such as using correct names and pronouns—serving as a vital buffer for students facing uncertainty. Simultaneously, our analysis of Mahmoud v. Taylor clarifies the nuance between pre-planned curriculum and everyday interactions. We reassured school staff that while opt-out policies may apply to specific lessons, families cannot "opt out" of the reality that LGBTQ+ people exist in the school community, nor can they opt out of the mandate to treat all peers with dignity and respect.

Protecting Our School Communities: A Response to ICE Enforcement

Our Response to ICE Enforcement guide offers practical information and sample language to help school and district leaders respond thoughtfully to immigration enforcement concerns while keeping students’ safety and well-being at the center. It outlines schools’ legal obligations, reinforces the importance of protecting student privacy, and provides guidance for clear communication and trauma-informed support. Our goal in sharing this resource is to help ensure that schools remain stable, welcoming places where every student and family feels safe and supported.

In addition to these new resources, Welcoming Schools embraces language justice, and we are ensuring our resources are available in Spanish as well.

Our curriculum has undergone rapid expansion in the past several months as we target specific developmental stages and youth environments. As of March 2026, we have introduced two additional trainings, including "Creating Gender Inclusive Early Childhood Spaces" for pre-school educators and a specialized micro-course dedicated to building affirming cultures and practices in summer camp settings. Additionally, a new webinar titled “Why School Boards Matter” is available to anyone interested in getting more involved in the school advocacy space, especially parents and educators. This trajectory of expansion is set to continue into late spring, with new modules designed specifically to train Resident Advisors (RAs) for residential housing environments and a longer, interactive camp module on navigating difficult scenarios with youth and families.

Our founding e-learning courses, “Creating LGBTQ+ Inclusive Secondary Schools” and “Supporting Transgender and Non-Binary Students”, are also now available in dedicated Elementary and Secondary School learning plans, which combine a series of courses to cover a variety of relevant topics and skills necessary to support an educator’s toolbox. Customizable learning plans are also available for schools interested in specializing their educator training offerings. 

Looking beyond traditional classroom settings, we are actively identifying new opportunities to broaden our impact. We see significant potential to adapt our resources for day programs, specialized schools, and mental health facilities. By expanding into these adjacent spaces, we can ensure that LGBTQ+ youth are supported by a consistent, inclusive framework regardless of where they seek education or support services.

With the educational landscape shifts, the definition of a Seal of Excellence (SOE) recipient is evolving to match the changing needs of students and educators. Being an SOE school requires a commitment to continued dialogue and deep collaboration. To remain relevant and effective, the program focuses on how schools can adapt to meet the distinct, evolving needs of their school communities.

Over the last year, two schools have earned the SOE, and the program is positioned for steady growth and retention over the coming years. We are on track to award the SOE designation to five schools during the 25-26 school year, with that number rising to seven schools the following year. Looking toward the long term, we have set a strategic goal to bring an additional 10 schools into the fold by 2029, ensuring a wider footprint of high-quality, inclusive education.

John M. Palmer Elementary School: 2025 SOE Recipient

Nestled between homes in a quiet Chicago neighborhood lies Palmer Elementary, a stunning school filled to the brim with compassionate forward thinkers and a culture of excellence. Led by Principal Dixon and Assistant Principal Caropreso, Palmer is home to hundreds of students who together speak over 20 languages, along with dozens of staff who dedicate each day to creating safe and inclusive spaces for every child under their guidance. 

“This is not complicated. Treating people with dignity and respect is not radical and it is not difficult. We don’t need to complicate that. All we are doing is making sure that all members of our school community know that they will be treated with dignity and respect.

It's not complicated when you partner with Welcoming Schools. The lessons are done, the days of reading resources are done, and they partner with you through all of the steps.” -Jennifer Dixon, Principal, John M. Palmer Elementary School.

Palmer Elementary was awarded the Seal of Excellence in May 2025, becoming the first school in Illinois to have earned the distinction. Culminating is a heartfelt ceremony featuring student renditions of “You’ve Got a Friend In Me”, emotional poetry readings on the importance of diversity and inclusion, and joyous remarks from various school and state leaders. Palmer recognized the extensive work that all school members committed to in order to achieve the SOE. 

Pueblo Gardens PreK-8 School: 2025 SOE Recipient

When Principal Michael Konrad noticed a growing need to better support LGBTQ+ students and their families at Pueblo Gardens PK8, an urban school of 400 students in Tucson, Arizona, he found the Welcoming Schools program. Over the course of a four-year journey, the school seamlessly integrated the program into the school community. Welcoming Schools brought a proactive approach built organically on the school’s previous work surrounding race and ethnicity, resulting in a highly supportive response from both students and the broader community.

Dr. Konrad found that his staff was already deeply accepting and eager to be advocates; they desired the specific tools and vocabulary to address topics about gender and family diversity. By providing comprehensive, differentiated training across all K-8 grade levels, Welcoming Schools trainers empowered educators to foster a genuinely inclusive environment. 

The practical impact of these new tools was immediate and heartwarming. When parents of a kindergartener worried about how their child would be treated for wearing dresses and painted nails, a teacher proactively read inclusive books to the class, creating a safe space that left the parents deeply grateful. In another instance, after an older student teased a younger boy for painting his nails, Principal Konrad simply began painting his own; the older student processed the visual support from leadership and ultimately complimented the younger boy's nails. This unwavering commitment to student well-being culminated last Spring when Pueblo Gardens became the first school in Arizona to earn the Welcoming Schools Seal of Excellence. The school celebrated alongside their Family Cultural Day, featuring "I Am From" student poems, community walks, and posters honoring diverse family traditions. By paving the way, Dr. Konrad hopes to "pay it forward," showing other districts that the fear of the unknown should never stop them from doing this vital, joy-filled work.

On February 27th, Welcoming Schools National Day of Reading served as a powerful celebration of visibility and joy. In a year defined by attempts to silence LGBTQ+ voices and remove affirming literature from library shelves, this day is more important than ever. While opponents sought to hide our stories, thousands of educators, parents, and community organizers across the country did the opposite: they read them aloud. This year, 3,000 people pledged to host a reading, and 275,000 people participated in the day.

This year’s campaign was more than a literacy event; it was a nationwide affirmation of transgender and non-binary youth. By centering stories that celebrate gender diversity, communities from coast to coast sent a clear message to students: you belong here. From intimate classroom circles to large-scale community gatherings, participants used the power of storytelling to dismantle fear and build empathy. The event provided a critical entry point for schools to begin conversations about inclusion in an accessible, age-appropriate way, rooted in the universal values of kindness and respect. 

The impact of the National Day of Reading extends far beyond a single day. For many schools, this event acted as a catalyst, empowering educators to keep inclusive books on their shelves year-round despite external pressure. It reminded us that the most effective way to fight censorship is not just to defend books, but to read them—proudly, publicly, and together. By amplifying these narratives, we are ensuring that every child, regardless of their gender identity, can see themselves reflected in the pages of their education.

The National Day of Reading extends beyond the classroom. Welcoming Schools has partnered with American Association of School Librarians (AASL), Authors Against Book Bans, Every Library, Lambda Literary, Mama Dragons, National Education Association (NEA), National PTA, PEN America, Red Wine & Blue, and the School Board Integrity Project to ensure this initiative reaches youth and families outside of the school building as well.