REDEFINING PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR LATINO SUCCESS

by Emmanuel Vera

Ana Ponce.jpg

She learn tremendously early exposure to beauty and color within her diverse Latino community. Interestingly, part of her story was about her parents, who didn't have formal schooling, and lacked aspirations for education due to their personal experiences. “ What I wanted to aspire to was breaking the cycle of poverty and living a life where I wasn't just surviving but thriving,” Ana shares. As she rose as top student with honor rolls in high school, she also worked a full-time job to help her family and pay tuition for the private school she attended. Finally, she headed to Mulberry College in the state of Vermont where she envisioned becoming someone that would uplift others. Ana realized that she wanted to be an educator, but while in college she also learned about the white culture of power and how they used their networks. She realized how undereducated she was. It was then that she decided to even out the playing field for all Latino students and those who followed. Ana Ponce is the current Executive Director for Great Public Schools Now (GPSN). Her wanting to work in the education field came from her own experience in education as a child. Ana’s story begins when she and her family immigrated to the United States from Mexico when her parents wanted to provide them a better life. Neither parent had any formal schooling since they belonged to the agricultural community until they were forced to move into the city. They settled in Los Angeles, in the area of pico union, which was a primary community with immigrants from Central and South America, but few Mexicans.

After she finished college she headed to the education field and began teaching from kindergarten to doing some tutoring. She eventually started her own charter school in South LA and lead to great success. Her big vision started with 2 classrooms with 50 kids, which then expanded to 400 kids. Eventually, the school had 3,800 kids who ended up graduating. About 80% of those students went on to four-year colleges. During those years she sat with moms ,cried with them, and helped them make the best decision for the family and for their child. Ana shares how oftentimes those conversations were a lot about young girls that wanted to go to college like her.

It was then Great Public Schools Now reached out to her and recruited her. Ana took th decision to take the job mainly of the reasons being their mission statement aligning with her own belief. The organization’s main vision is “a great public school for every student in Los Angeles.” Guided by this vision, their mission is to invest in schools, organizations, and initiatives that catalyze excellence in public education, convene leaders, and uplift public understanding to advocate for great public schools. Ana truly believes that the basic element for a child to have a good education is being able to address systemic inequities within the larger system and those barriers.

“WHAT I WANTED TO ASPIRE TO, WAS BREAKING THE CYCLE OF POVERTY AND LIVING A LIFE WHERE I WASN'T JUST SURVIVING BUT THRIVING.”

For Ana her core strategies consist of three main things: “One is investing in quality school models. Second, we have the collective action initiative which is about working with community-based organizations to leverage influence and power to create policies that will push on improving quality in schools and accountability. Third, is around catalytic initiatives which are really being aware of where the opportunities are so that we can step in and invest in taking advantage of that opportunity.” During the pandemic, GPSN has partnered with over 30 organizations to start a rapid relief fund, called One Family LA(OFLA). Back in March, the week after schools closed many families were going to be economically negatively impacted by the shut down and so they launched the effort. Within two weeks of launching, deploying funding directly to families began immediately and provided assistance with food, rent, medical care, supplies, childcare, and other basic needs. In total OFLA raised over $2,000,000 and they were able to support over 4,500 families with financial assistance for what was needed.

As Ana reflects on her core belief, she comes to explain that families are part of the educational journey. She connects deeply and relates her own personal story from both her education journey and coming as an immigrant. Ana remembers her mother being marginalized at her elementary school due to her lack of English speaking. This strongly shaped how Ana and many more children of immigrants saw themselves in society. It’s situations like these affecting students and their families that have made family engagement and outreach become front and center of Ana’s vision as an educator. Today, Ana’s personal journey, experiences and work continue to redefine and re-imagining what public schools can be like to set kids up for success.

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