After nearly a decade leading Tucson’s Holladay Fine Arts Magnet Elementary, educator Tonya Strozier is launching Ubuntu Academies, a private school aimed at closing educational gaps and supporting Black and Brown children through rigorous academics, personalized learning and wellness-focused programming.

Ubuntu Academies is set to open in August 2026. Its program combines cooperative and personalized learning with traditional Ubuntu wellness practices to bridge disparity.

Ubuntu wellness practices in education draw on the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which centers on interconnectedness, community and the shared human experience. The approach promotes holistic growth by addressing students’ emotional, social and academic needs within a nurturing, inclusive and supportive learning environment.

“Sometimes when you're in a big system, it's hard to innovate,” Strozier told Tucson Spotlight. “But that's exactly what I want to do, which is why I launched the nonprofit Black and Brown Girl Wellness, as well as Ubuntu Academies. I want to innovate because we need to do something different.”

Tucson Unified School District includes 89 schools and about 40,000 students, making large-scale changes difficult to implement and enforce across the board, Strozier said.

“I believe in public education, but I also see it breaking,” Strozier said. “And because I see it breaking, I feel like my call right now is to get out. To pivot and create a place for them to come to, and that's what Ubuntu Academies is.”

Strozier runs educational and wellness initiatives across Tucson. In 2024, she hosted TUSD’s first Black and Brown Girl Wellness Day, a program focused on mental and physical health and real-world issues. In May, the program expanded to target refugee girls in the district.

Strozier has already served more than 200 girls through the program.

This month, she’s launching her ONYX program, through which kids from underprivileged communities learn to create their own AI agents, use AI safely, and apply it as both an academic tool and a wellness coach.

“I feel like some of the things that are happening politically are really after trying to destroy this public school system, but the kids who are going to be left in that system are going to be Black and Brown,” Strozier said.

For the past two years, Strozier served as director of TUSD’s African American Student Services, where she oversaw and provided supported advocacy for more than 4,000 African American students.

Within her first three years as principal at Holladay Elementary, the school’s letter grade rating jumped from a D to a B.

“I've been a turnaround principal before,” Strozier said. “My specialty is in creating and transforming low-performing academic environments and making them thrive.”

Families enrolling in Ubuntu Academies can use Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, which provide roughly $7,000 for students in first grade and above, or CAPS tax credit scholarships to help cover tuition.

For families covering the difference between tuition and these scholarships, Ubuntu offers sliding-scale payment options to ensure the program is accessible to everyone.

“We're really trying to remove every type of financial barrier,” Strozier said. “Everyone will pay something, because we really do believe that you need to invest in your education like that, but we're trying to make high-quality, rigorous instruction available to every single family.”

While Ubuntu Academies is rooted in African philosophy and pedagogy, enrollment is open to all students. The school will launch next year with kindergarten through third grade, adding a new grade each year until sixth grade. In the future, Ubuntu plans to expand into an all-girls middle and high school.

“Dr. Tonya has the ability to identify gaps within our community, especially because she’s in the educational world,” said Desiree Cook, founder and CEO of I Am You 360, a local nonprofit that provides housing for youth transitioning out of foster care.

Cook and Strozier are longtime colleagues in the local children’s nonprofit sector, with Strozier serving as a board member and grant writer for I Am You 360.

“I’m excited to see her blossom in that leadership role as far as opening her Black and Brown wellness school Ubuntu, because that is going to ignite such a needed piece within our community,” Cook said. “This is her heart. It’s so different when you start a nonprofit and your heart is in the right place, so many things can be birthed. And Dr. Tonya’s heart is in the right place.”

Ruby Wray is a journalism and creative writing major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at rubywray@arizona.edu.

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