Kelly Alexander, cofounder of Project Uplift, dies at 75
The double Tar Heel also served eight terms in the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Rep. Kelly Alexander, a double Tar Heel and cofounder of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Project Uplift, has died. He was 75.
Alexander, a Charlotte native, received a bachelor’s in political science and master’s in public administration from Carolina in 1970. He was first elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 2009, serving eight terms.
Alexander was among a group of Carolina students who, in 1969, pioneered the creation of Project Uplift as a way to give high school seniors a taste of college life. He and other students allowed high school students to stay in their rooms and showed Carolina as a welcoming place. Since then, tens of thousands of high school students have participated in the program.
In 2019, he spoke about the creation of the program during its 50th anniversary celebration.
Alexander’s father, Kelly Alexander Sr., was the national president of NAACP and is included on the UNC School of Government’s SERVICE mural.
