As widely reported and documented, the coronavirus pandemic hit schools hard. To address challenges caused by COVID-19, the U.S. Congress created and funded the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER). While educators and the field have learned much during the era of reforming high poverty schools, the challenge to improve systems remain. One important takeaway over the past decade has been the awareness and understanding of the role that leaders play. To better understand initiatives enacted with ESSERs funds that focus on leadership and equity, school districts and Charter Management Organizations were surveyed. The paper reports the results from a sample consisted of 359 survey respondents and the population sample consists of U.S. public school districts (approximately 13,000 districts). The analysis provided a glimpse of how federal funds were being utilized to enact an initiative focused on equity and leadership. As systemic inconsistencies and weaknesses, including political challenges, and a lack of uneven district support has been found to curtail past efforts, the paper highlights the opportunity as schools remain open throughout an ever changing pandemic which has had a significant impact on students in poverty.