Selected participant in Leadership Tomorrow’s 24th cohort—a competetive collective leadership program engaging cross-sector, cross functional leaders from the ought sound area training us to challenge ourselves as leaders, connect with diverse agents of change in our community, focusing on racial equity, diversity, equity and inclusion. We are learning about community wellbeing and the facets of our community where challenges exist and learning how to develop our talents to implement creative, cross-sector solutions.

I offer consulting in public policy, community engagement, equity and social justice to organizations in Washington State. I specialize in family center policies including early learning, housing affordability & homelessness, child welfare, child health care, tax structure and compensation—with a focus on racial equity and intersectionality. I have established relationships with State and Federal law makers and a vast network of colleagues and allies within these policy areas. My approach is to address root causes of systemic inequality and to put the power back into the hands of the people I’m serving—removing the middlemen, barriers and gatekeepers. I provide consultation to non-profits, foundations, public schools, universities, community collaboratives and local & state government/agencies. I offer an array of services including: policy and program analysis and development, program development, implementation & evaluation, community engagement/networking/relationship building, advocacy and policy trainings, advocacy/communications, original qualitative/quantitative research and reporting, technical assistance, participatory budgeting, organizational change management, and building and facilitating coalitions and communities of practice for BIPOC and underserved communities.Bills I’ve worked on: HB 2556 (2020), Fair Starts for Kids Act (2020), Fairs Starts Act for Kids (2021), HB 1344 (2019), Language Access for Child Care Providers (2021), Keeping Families Together Act (2021).

Regional Lead | Facilitation Lead | Policy and Advocacy LeadKing County Early Learning Coalition Washington Communities for Children—focus on change management and participatory budgeting Project Lead, Community of Practice for Home Based Service Providers in King CountyHelp Me Grow King County Systems Thought PartnerChild Care Workgroup | ECEAP Workgroup | Comm/Mob WorkgroupEarly Learning Action AllianceLead, Racial Equity Popcorn GroupRacial Equity in Early Learning Advocacy GroupOther coalition membership/affiliation:King County Human Services CoalitionSeattle Human Services CoalitionChild Welfare Advocacy CoalitionEarly Learning Advisory CouncilEarly Learning Facilities Stakeholder GroupChild Care Collaborative Task ForceWaKids Advisory Board

Specialist leading racial equity and early learning workforce policy. Responsibilities included policy development, analysis and tracking; qualitative and quantitative research and report writing; racial equity/early learning coalition building and facilitation; advocacy workshop curriculum development and implementation; community engagement; grant writing and reporting; early learning workgroup leadership; and innovation.

Using student data to undo systemic racism in the Master’s in Education Policy program and to improve equity and inclusion for current and future students. Tasks included leading a team of four, survey design and longitudinal data collection, recommendations to board and leadership on systemic changes to improve BIPOC student experience and racial equity curriculum and evaluation of interventions to identify root causes of systemic racism in this program. Also design and deliver bias trainings for students, board and staff—evaluate effectiveness of interventions and develop additional trainings based on need.

Assigned projectsBuild and facilitate a diverse higher Ed coalition of community stakeholders focusing on infusing racial equity in to Mayor Durkin’s Tuition Free Seattle Promise Program.Lobbying for increased compensation for early childhood professionals during the 2017 legislative session, participating in the Early Learning Action Alliance, networking with state and federal law makers, partnerships with ECE professionals and the organizations that represent them (WCCA and SEIU 925), participating in the legislatively appointed compensation technical workgroup and creating original research and reports on the impact of low wages on quality child care (qualitative and quantitative).Creating original content, including blogs and policy analysis for the EOI website and our community partners.Pushing for a deeper focus on racial equity and intersectionality in early childhood education with lawmakers and CBO partners.

Intern for The Brotherhood Initiative in the College of Education, whose mission is to increase retention and graduation graduation rates for men of color at the University of washington and prepare them for a lifetime of leadership, service and success. My role is to assess the need for new programming for men of color transferring to the UW. I have done this through review of best practice and creating an assessment through Qualtrics to be administered to current transfer students at the UW and students from Seattle Colleges looking to transfer and identify any gaps that the Brotherhood could address for men of color. The unlimited goal is to increase retention and graduation rates for this population of students. I also collaborated with other team members to fundraise for the fall leadership summit and grant writing for additional program funds.

Event Planning for MEP cohort 6Recruiting and event planning and communicating with the cohort and the community about events for the Master in Education Program and the College of Education.