Reflections from our Racial Equity Fellows

Johnathon Davis

Driven by collaboration, advocacy, racial justice, equity, inclusion, and innovation while taking immense pride in providing the best version of myself to consumers, stakeholders, and partners. When reflecting upon my past 2022-2023 academic school year, cohesiveness was something that I valued from the opportunity of serving as a Racial Equity Fellow (REF). As a REF, I had the freedom to lead individually and collectively with the team which provided multiple opportunities to actively participate in the equity building process we sought to achieve. I was able to gain greater insight into myself, while discovering strengths and weaknesses when working in a team, as a member, and as a leader.

Furthermore, I was exultant about the fact that this year’s “Equity Leadership Series” provided a toolbox of actionable resources to bring forth into communities of practice. Finally, I had the opportunity to host “Allyship in Action” workshop where I was able to embark upon meaningful dialogues to discover creative ways to practice allyship. As Ally’s, the attendees were able to discover tools of action that created inclusion, accountability, as well as equity in the communities that they live and work in.

Leslie Saito

Decisions regarding education are dynamic and ever changing. As such, they should never be made in a silo, especially without tapping into the voices of our most important stakeholders, our students. Oftentimes students are talked about and spoken for, but seldom do admin and teachers listen to them.

As an educator in the K12 sector, listening to the anti-racism student panel was eye-opening, raw, and revealing. These prolific, middle school students spoke from the heart, offering educators keen advice to move the needle towards racial equity. Knowing that these young advocates will be at the helm of making change, brings much hope for our collective future.

Basti Lopez De La Luz

Being selected for the REF program made my first year in my EdD program meaningful and transformative. I met brilliant and empathic leaders actively searching to make positive and equitable changes in their respective fields. I enjoyed learning how philanthropic, K-12, and higher education leaders create opportunities to help disproportionately impacted communities. One of the biggest takeaways from this experience is being able to lean on my fellow REFs and brainstorm critical topics to address for our CSULB community and beyond. Having to put together a conference that dealt with the subjects of race, sexuality, and intersectionality made our time together even more meaningful. I highly recommend this opportunity to anyone interested in putting theory into praxis. As I walk away from this program, I value the insight, knowledge, and resilience that my team members embody, and I am even more motivated to continue doing the work in spaces that I get to be a part of.

Dr. Noemi Villegas

As a REF, there are many opportunities to ensure we continue to raise awareness of the critical importance of addressing inequities in school systems and dismantle practices that perpetuate harm for young people and their communities. Through this work, I felt honored to work with diverse and strong equity leaders to determine actions that could be taken to discuss and advance equity conversations and action driven practices folx could take within their contexts. Within each engagement opportunity, we determined it was important to address the following: dismantling of systems, discuss concrete items for equity implementation and direct implications for communities we serve, tools such as scenarios, lived experiences, videos and other media formats will be embedded in sessions.

These series were interactive, action oriented and dialogue driven. They will provide a toolbox of actionable resources that would be offered to attendees. Each opportunity facilitated a forum of ongoing conversations via communities of practice around 4 main topics: Identity, Leadership & Community, Leadership & Learning and the importance of Healing/ Restorative Spaces in schools.

Dr. Vanessa Monterosa

As a REF, I led two sessions focused on racial justice and philanthropy. The topics I hoped to shed light on focused on increasing racial equity among education entrepreneurs and how the field remains predominately represented by white leaders. However, having proximate innovators, such as educators of color with big ideas for education, represented more among entrepreneurs would not only diversify the field but provide solutions that take into account how to best support underestimated students. I appreciated the opportunity to lead this conversation across two REF sessions in addition to learning from my fellow REFs through the sessions that they led. Lastly, the highlight of my experience was truly getting to know my fellow REFs, who represented current students and alumni. It was a great opportunity to stay connected to the CSULB community while expanding my circle of equity-minded colleagues.