Background: School leader decision making can be complicated by the enrollment of affluent, and often white families in educational spaces that have served low-income, Black, and Brown families post-Brown. Principals' behaviors influence whose power is coalesced and wielded to make school-wide curricular, budgetary, and personnel decisions. Methods: This collaborative study used interviews as the primary method to capture two elementary, two middle, and two high school principals' attempts to build coalitions with low-income families of color in their schools. Data was drawn from two separate studies analyzing school gentrification in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Using micropolitical theories and drawing on studies promoting a more community-centric approach to school leadership, the data was coded and organized into broad themes. These themes relate to coalition-building's power in resisting the exclusion and marginalization of families most impacted by inequity in gentrifying schools and their neighborhoods. Findings: Findings reveal that principals implemented strategies ranging from engaging in deliberate partnerships with Black and Brown families, implementing anti-racist curricula, and other means of centering Black and Brown communities. Implications: Although principals can buffer long-standing families from gentrification's deleterious consequences, there is a need for principals to unite with families and other school principals for a broader and more targeted and formalized dissent and policy strategy to ensure low-income Black and Brown families drive decision-making in schools and their districts.