I am a Community Organizer for CADRE in South L.A. with a key role in developing and fostering the leadership of empowered Black/African American and Latino parents. My role is to engage them as critical thinkers, while strengthening their will for collective self-determination and efficacy as they see themselves as game changers through our parent empowerment academy. Our members work toward common goals in the unified fight for their human rights as parents of color and to advocate for their children in schools to ensure a community that can strategize in ending white supremacy in schools and school to prison pipeline.

In my 3 months at CADRE, my focus has been recruiting parents to CADRE’s Empowerment Academy by working everyday with black and brown parents to fulfill their leadership goals to envision for themselves what an empowered parent looks like. The greatest lesson learned is that we must be able to get out of our own way, when we stand in front of our critical self reflection and development as a collective in order to succeed.

I decided to join CADRE when I realized that parent power was the unlimited force in advocating for their kids education and to end the school to prison pipeline. I would like to change the way that parents are treated in schools in South LA. I envision a community where all black and brown parents would be able to advocate for themselves and for their kids right to quality education.

Prior to joining CADRE, I served as the Supervisor for ServiceWorks VISTA in Los Angeles through Public Allies Los Angeles at CDTech. This program worked in collaboration with several major higher educational institutions including UCLA, USC, LATTC and Mount Saint Mary’s University. I was crucial in a team that was dedicated to developing and building partnerships and initiatives, creating and implementing curriculum, identifying and shaping educational leadership landscapes. I am a core member of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and for the past 3 years I have held a seat on the Voices of 90037-neighborhood council. I am an alumnus of Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity. I live in South Central Los Angeles. I’m part of a 9-sibling household.