Teachers for Social Justice Las Vegas 

Responding to a community need, I co-organized to help found Teachers for Social Justice Las Vegas (TFSJLV), a grassroots, teacher-led collaborative organized to create liberatory spaces for educators to engage in consciousness raising, healing, self-transformation, advocacy,  community building, and social justice activism. I engage along-side teachers to examine, address, and respond to equity challenges educators face in the field while also providing resources, a caring and brave space for educators to tap into their internal power to deconstruct systems of privilege and power in our schools, community, and society-at-large.  Click Here to visit the TFSJLV website.

Community Engagement, Legislative Action, & Volunteer Service In Schools

Work in service to historically marginalized communities is critical to my advocacy as a scholar, primarily because it is important for me to serve in ways that lead to increased opportunities for underserved students and communities.  It is with this in mind that I sought further development by participating in national justice oriented organizations  like The Institute for Teachers of Color 2016 and 2017 and Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC).  I am also developing a supportive relationship with local community based grassroots nonprofit TULIPS which provides coaching and mentoring support for underserved female youth.  At the legislative level, I  serve on two state work groups, one to advance a Multicultural Education license requirement and the other to support the implementation of the new ESSA regulations.  I also co-lead a university-school-community partnership initiative called "Code Switch:  Restorative Justice for Female Youth of Color" which provides leadership and empowerment curriculum for youth pushed out of local comprehensive middle and high schools.  Occasionally, I volunteer in local PK-12 classrooms supporting teachers with curriculum development, instruction, and community engagement initiatives as well.

 Multicultural Educational Services Alliance (MESA)

I served as a research assistant on the Abriendo Caminos/ Opening Pathways Program, a  grant-funded University of Nevada Las Vegas research project designed to open pathways for students of color to enter the teaching profession.  As part of this work, I also worked in cross-institutional collaborations to connect campus to community through family engagement, workshopped ideas as part of the Teach to Lead initiative and co-authored public scholarship to raise awareness of the work being engaged in the state of Nevada.  Click Here to learn more about this grant work.