EDUCATOR ACTION GROUP
Our Educator Action Group actively engages in a variety of education, outreach, and advocacy projects to increase support for Bay Area immigrant students who do not yet have permanent residency or citizenship in the United States. We meet the fourth Tuesday evening of every month in San Francisco. Interested in joining the group? Please email Katharine Gin at kathy@e4fc.org.
Joni Bissell
Joni has worked for Summer Search since 2002. The mission of Summer Search is to identify resilient, low income high school students and inspire them to become responsible and altruistic leaders by providing year round mentoring, life changing summer experiences, college advising and a lasting support network. Joni received her College Advisor and Career Planning Certification from University of California, Berkeley, becoming College Director two years ago in the San Francisco office. She is passionately committed to introducing underserved students to the privilege of post-secondary options and assisting them in the college process. She believes every student deserves not only access to higher education, but the luxury of choices and that this opportunity provides a more equal and vibrant world for all.
Nancy Jodaitis
Nancy Jodaitis has worked as a bilingual (Spanish-English) academic advisor and transfer counselor since 1997 to increase access to higher education for underrepresented students. In 2008, Nancy also began working in the Office of Student Financial Aid at San Francisco State University to help students obtain financial aid and scholarships to attend college. Nancy is an advisor to SFSU's chapter of Improving Dreams, Equity, Access and Success (IDEAS), a student-run group providing resources and support for AB540 students.
Jennifer Pence
Jennifer Pence is the executive director of the Burwen Education Foundation, founder of the Windmill Giving Circle, and philanthropy columnist for the Mountain View Voice. This past year, she assisted E4FC scholars in applying to graduate school and served on the New American Scholars selection committee. She also volunteers her time with the Burlingame Rotary Club, focusing her efforts on the Rotary Scholars program. Jennifer is the founder and owner of the tutoring business Academic Springboard and holds a psychology degree from Harvard University.
Tony Press
Tony Press is an educator and advocate in Daly City. He was an attorney for nineteen years and an English teacher for twelve years. He writes fiction and wants to help in real life.
Maddy Russell-Shapiro
Maddy has led Mission Graduates' high school college-access programs since 2004. Mission Graduates is a community-based non-profit that works to increase the number of young people from the Mission District of San Francisco who are prepared for and complete a college education.
Jessica Samples
Jessica is the College Affairs Director at College Track San Francisco. At College Track, a nonprofit after-school program, Jessica helps high school students from under-resourced communities gain admission to college. Over 90% of her students will be the first ones in their families to graduate from college, and all come from populations under-represented on college campuses. Jessica served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama and earned her B.A. from Claremont McKenna College.
Leticia Silva
Leticia Silva has worked at City College of San Francisco’s Latino Services Network for six years. Being the first in her family to attend college, she believes that every student deserves the right to pursue a college education and achieve their academic and career goals. For the past few years she has worked on educating counselors and faculty on AB540/immigrant students. She is the co-chair of the AB540 Task Force, which is comprised of administrators, teachers/counselors and students. She is also the advisor of the student AB540 club on campus.
Jane Slater
Jane was born and raised in San Francisco. She has been teaching French and, more recently, English Language Development at Sequoia High School in Redwood City for twenty years. Jane is the advisor for Sequoia's Dream Club, a very active student group that strives to raise awareness of the challenges that undocumented students face. The club also works hard to raise scholarship money to support and encourage Sequoia's successful undocumented graduates.
Susan Suárez-Madson
Susan Suárez-Madson was born and raised in Los Angeles. She has a B.A. in Spanish from the University of San Francisco, a teaching credential from San Jose State University, and M.A. in Education from Stanford University. Since 2002, she has been working with teenagers at Downtown College Prep, a San Jose charter high school whose mission is to prepare first-generation students to thrive in college. During her time at DCP, she has taught Spanish and worked with parents to help them learn how to best support their college-bound students. For the past three years, she has worked with DCP seniors and alumni to help ease their transition from high school to college and offer support throughout their college experience. As the oldest daughter of Mexican immigrants, Susan knows the feelings and needs of someone who is the first in the family to pursue a college education. She is wholeheartedly committed to the success of all first-generation college students because she has seen what a transformative effect it can have on individuals, their families, and the communities to which they belong.
Derrlyn Tom
Derrlyn has been a teacher of science with San Francisco Unified School District for 15 years, 11 years at Mission High School. She speaks Spanish and teaches immigrant students from all over the world. She also maintains good relationships with many of her students, even after they leave Mission and go on to higher education. She is an activist for social justice, defending and fighting for full amnesty for all immigrants. She works with an organization called "San Francisco Immigrant Rights Defense Coalition" against the attacks on immigrants in the city as well as nationwide.
Leora Wolf-Prusan
Leora works for College Summit, Inc. Northern California region as a School Partnership Manager, supporting 19 partner public high schools in low-income communities around the Bay Area to increase their college going culture and enrollment rates. A native San Franciscan and a graduate of UC Davis, Mills College, and Hebrew University, she thanks John Dewey for the quote that captures her pedagogical framework: "Education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living." Padelante!
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