Two days before Mother’s Day, Mahone walked the stage thinking of the one precious family member who couldn’t be there — but her presence was deeply felt. His mother, Tara Mahone, was the inspiration and impetus behind Mahone’s completion of his third degree from UofL, a in the College of ������Ƶ and Human Development.

“She, along with my father, did a phenomenal job raising me and my brothers, presenting opportunities to us and leading us,” said the Hopkinsville, Ky., native. “She was a living example from the beginning.” His mother’s model included investing time in their hometown leadership programs serving others in the community, which Mahone emulated with his own involvement in programs including Boys and Girls Clubs, Youth Leadership and Upward Bound.

Mahone said he watched his mother earn two associate degrees and a bachelor’s degree despite undergoing dialysis for renal failure, all while raising three sons. Then, while Mahone was earning a degree at UofL, she was completing her own master’s degree in criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati. “We had this fun back and forth on who would get the best grades each semester,” he said.

But in January 2021, Tara Mahone was unexpectedly diagnosed with Covid-19. Within three days, she was hospitalized, and only five days later, she passed away. “That cut me to the core,” he said. “It’s tough when the first person you lose is your mom.” Added to that pain was the fact that Daquarius’s mother passed just months before his wedding.

Making his journey count

Mahone said he knew early on that his own path would lead to UofL. When he first toured the campus with Upward Bound, a federally-funded college preparation program, he knew he was home.

“It felt really close knit, just big enough.” With financial assistance from a , Mahone entered UofL and completed his Bachelor of Science in Communication in 2017. A short while later, he became a university employee, working first as an administrative assistant and then program coordinator at the on campus while pursuing his master’s degree.

Mahone said it was his mom’s spiritual faith and love for serving youth that was his catalyst to pursue a PhD degree in 2022.

“I was looking through student development theories and how students overcome adversities,” Mahone explained. He studied the theory of community cultural wealth, which examines forms of “capital” students can use to succeed.

“When I think of my mom on dialysis and yet still getting a degree in community college, and being a wife, and raising sons who play sports, that’s aspirational capital.”

Mahone’s guiding principle is to impart future college students with a sense of belonging and inspiration around what they can contribute to society.

A rising tide

In 2024, Mahone got an opportunity to bring these theories to life when he became director of , a newly launched college readiness program at UofL. Designed to serve students in grades 8-12 and help bridge the educational divide for first-generation students, the program seeks to build a thriving college-going culture. Cardinals Rising held a reception in April to welcome its first 60-student cohort to campus.

“Our vision is a community where the talent and potential of all students is recognized and nurtured, and they contribute to the workforce of the city and state through collaboration and innovation,” he said.

Coming full circle

“The last thing my mother said to me while she was alive was ‘I am more than a conqueror,’” said Mahone, a Biblical reference to Romans 8:37. The passage assures believers they can transcend challenges and transform their lives.

Having overcome many hardships himself and achieving this most recent dream, Mahone is glad to help others do the same.

“And so that’s aspiration capital, spiritual capital, all coming alive,” Mahone said. “I am fortunate to be in a place where I have hope, and I feel that a great deposit was left for me and through me.”

Every child can rise

As president of ​ (HCZ), a world-renowned education and poverty-fighting organization based in New York City, Canada has made it his life’s work to help young people from under-resourced communities succeed. , HCZ now serves more than 34,000 students and families living in a 97-block area of Central Harlem in New York City.

Growing up in an impoverished south Bronx neighborhood, Canada said he has seen firsthand the result of young people not receiving quality education.

“It’s life and death,” he said. “My mother had four sons, but only three made it. At 72-years-old, not one of my friends I grew up with is alive today,” said Canada. “It means the ability to take care of your family or fall into a black hole that sucks you in and destroys lives.”

Canada’s keynote speech was a commentary on the state-of-affairs in education and a rally cry to educators to change their perspective on what it means to stand up for every child.

Aftermath of COVID-19

Today’s educators, schools and students face daunting challenges, many exacerbated by the upheaval and trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Learning loss is real, and many kids have not caught up academically and never will unless we do something,” said Canada. “We may think things have returned to normal, but our children have not recovered. What we are doing is passing along a whole generation of kids who don’t have the ability to be college ready.”

Canada said that makes it more important than ever to offer programs like UofL’s newly launched , which reaches out to youth in middle and high school to equip and nurture them with essential skills, mentoring, supports and networks they need to be ready for the higher education experience and success in life.

“We need to give these young people just a sniff of the American dream so they can believe there is a way for them to make it,” he said.

Through his hard work with the Harlem Children’s Zone, Canada’s efforts have resulted in placement of nearly 1,000 kids in college – kids who never thought college could be part of their future. Canada said changing expectations is key to shifting that culture from believing college is not for them to believing college is definitely for them.

“When 1,000 kids come home in the summer from college, they see people they know and start to think, ‘If he can go to college, I could go to college.’ It becomes normal,” Canada explained.

Thinking creatively ��

Although Canada attended one of the worst schools in the nation as a child, he said unfortunately not much has changed.

“If you go in those schools today, they start and end at the same time, and kids are taught the same way, even though we know that for 60 years, it hasn’t worked,” he said. “We must do different things.”

In an effort to lead change, Canada created a charter school in Harlem where there are after-school supports until 7 p.m. Saturday school also is available throughout the year for struggling kids. These efforts, he said, have yielded considerable progress in closing achievement gaps in math and reading.

“Why do we think we can teach the same way to everyone? What are the diverse ways we can save these young people? We can save some kids through academics, or athletics, or art, or mental health or physical health, or parents, grandparents or siblings,” he said.

For university educators, Canada believes they, too, need to continue figuring out what is working and what is not, especially for young people with little exposure to college.

“These are complicated times, but our mission cannot change, and we cannot sit on the sidelines,” said Canada. “We have to take a stand.”

“With the name ‘Cardinals Rising,’ I immediately thought of a nest,” Mahone said. “How do we build a nest for our students so that when they graduate high school, they are ready to come to UofL, or ready to go into their careers? At UofL, there’s a nest here to help them nurture and hone their skills and abilities so they can succeed in a higher learning institution.”

, which was announced Aug. 28 at the , is designed to serve students in grades 8-12 and will bridge the educational divide for underserved, low-income and first-generation students and their families to help build a thriving college-going culture. The program is a collaborative effort with UofL’s academic colleges and resources that will provide year-round engagement and ongoing development through mentorship and enrichment activities.

“Our mission is to empower students by creating and cultivating pathways to higher education through an infrastructure of intentional relationships and strategic investment,” Mahone said. “We want to create a future where every student, regardless of background or circumstances, has equitable access to higher education and the opportunities that it brings.”

The initial phase of the program will focus on recruiting a pilot group of male students from and connect them with UofL Cardinals Rising ambassadors. Later phases of the program will introduce opportunities for female students and broaden the scope.

The first participation goal is to attract 200 JCPS students to be evenly placed across the grade levels from 8-12 with 15-20 UofL ambassadors made up of students, staff and faculty recruited for mentorship matching. JCPS principals, counselors and Family Resource Center staff will help recommend and recruit youth for the program.

Once the first cohort of ambassador-student matchups is identified, Mahone said they will meet with parents and host getting- to-know-you sessions with families in spring 2025. Next, the summer academy will offer a weeklong immersive experience on Belknap Campus filled with dynamic college-level activities. Cardinals Rising ambassadors also will meet with students at their own schools and offer holistic support that empowers entire families with tools needed for success.

Mahone said he hopes to eventually expand the program to all JCPS schools and every county in the Commonwealth.

“Our vision is a community where the talent and the potential of all students is recognized and nurtured, and they contribute to the workforce of the city and state through collaboration and innovation,” he said.

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“Higher education positively affects social mobility, meaning students from all backgrounds – white, Black, Hispanic, from eastern Kentucky, western Kentucky, the suburbs, the inner cities, small towns, rural areas — become empowered to enhance the quality of life for themselves and their families, while increasing the talent dividend for the state of Kentucky,” Gill said.

In the spirit of oneness, Gill has restructured DEI work at the Health Sciences Center and Belknap campuses under one umbrella: UofL’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Establishing a new university-wide Inclusion and Equity Council represents another step. Chaired by Gill and the provost, the council includes one representative from every UofL college and vice-presidential unit, along with several community organizations including the NAACP, Americana World Community Center, Asia Institute Crane House, La Casita Center and the Louisville Urban League. The new 30 person-plus council meets quarterly for the purpose of information sharing, resource collaboration and solution development.��

“It is important that we not work in silos. Through collaboration, we will become more efficient and make a greater impact,” he said.

Gill also is working with the Commission on Diversity and Racial Equity (CODRE) to prioritize the numerous recommendations made in the Cardinal Anti-Racism Agenda (CARA) report that will help move the university’s DEI efforts forward. Additionally, the DEI division has created new positions and repurposed several existing roles to help in the effort.

The charge to the team is to launch new diversity training modules for faculty and staff utilizing the (IDI) and . This innovative diversity training strategy will be led by Marian Vasser, assistant vice president for inclusive excellence, and 15 individuals from throughout UofL who will become certified trainers in the IDI model. This fall, the President’s Cabinet and the Council of Academic Officers will participate in diversity training exercises with one of the nation’s leading experts in strategic diversity leadership,

The DEI division also is ramping up efforts to reach both current and future students. Through the new Inclusive Excellence Scholars program, Gill is engaging with UofL alumni from various disciplines who will participate in week-long mentoring with students, offering expertise on the global competencies that are needed for workplace success. Similarly, a newly formed Corporate Chief Diversity Officer Advisory Board includes chief diversity officers from several regional and national companies to connect with students for mentorship, internships and co-ops.

Other efforts to impact future Cardinals involves a partnership with Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) to host the Explore Pathways event this fall, providing more than 1,000 JCPS students, many of whom are Pell Grant eligible, an opportunity to explore education and career options. The one-day event at Cardinal Stadium will provide youth a chance to visit with UofL colleges and unit representatives.

Among the most intensive DEI effort will be the new Cardinals Rising initiative, a program open to all, that will reach young men of color in grades 7-12. Organized by Brandyn Bailey and Daquarius Mahone in the DEI office, Cardinals Rising collaborates with local middle and high schools. Counselors from each of the schools will help identify youth who would benefit from this program.

“The earlier we can reach young people, the more impact we can have. These are bright students, but their energies may be misapplied. We want to invest, pour into them and help them understand they can be anything they dream to become,” Gill said.

The program aims to bring youth to campus, introducing them to the college-going culture, along with involvement of their parent or guardian who also will have opportunities to learn about financial literacy and financial wellness, educational advancement and careers. Parents and guardians will sign an agreement, committing to help their child succeed by encouraging their studies and building life skills, along with becoming immersed themselves in the Cardinals Rising program. The DEI division is in process of seeking grant funding to help support this initiative.

“Cardinals Rising will change the lives of the students and create a ripple effect that will impact the entire family toward generational wealth. UofL will be a leader in graduating first–generation, Pell-eligible students,” Gill said.