Mike Montoya: Welcome to the Stronger Podcast. Each week, we have honest conversations with education and social impact leaders about their leadership and career journeys. We talk about their origins, inflection points, and the work that they're doing today. The conversations are honest, human, and practical. If you're here for real stories and real takeaways, you're in the right place.

Mike Montoya: Let's jump in, and let's get stronger together. Today, we're bringing back a conversation every school leader should hear twice. My guest is Michelle Vilchez, the CEO of Innovate for Action in California. Michelle watched her mother fight for better schools and then raise four children in historically redlined communities. Today, she gives families the data and the training to advocate for the schools your children deserve.

Mike Montoya: We talk about parent leadership and why achievement gaps have barely moved since the nineteen eighties. If your organization is planning what comes next, we'd love to help you develop a better plan for families at the center. Find us at strongerconsulting.com. Let's jump in. Good morning, Michelle. Nice to spend time with you. How are you this afternoon?

Michelle Vilchez: I'm fantastic. It's Friday. Happy Friday.

Mike Montoya: Happy Friday.

Michelle Vilchez: Happy almost middle of December, which feels crazy.

Mike Montoya: I know I'm laughing. I said it was morning and the afternoon right in the same sentence because it gets like right on the cusp. It's twelve noon Pacific time, I think for our audience. And it's a couple of weeks before winter break in our space. So we're kind of in that mode. And, Michelle, you're in Northern California. Right? Like, near San Jose. Is that basically where home is?

Michelle Vilchez: I'm in the middle. I'm just in between San Jose and San Francisco. So I'm on the Peninsula and and it's beautifully. It's beautiful today. It's sunny. It's cold.

Mike Montoya: I heard it was cold.

Michelle Vilchez: Unlike the rest of The United States, we're not battling, you know, five feet of snow or the 14 degree weather. So I I try not to complain too much.

Mike Montoya: I feel like it's hard to... I think Redwood City where I think you and I first met had, like, the best climate by government test thing for, like, thirty five years. It was, a funny little little saying. Is that soul thing?

Michelle Vilchez: That's still a thing. That is totally the truth. But I would, I mean, you know, the Bay Area and our micro climates, you have to bring a long sleeve, a sweater, a jacket just in case, depending on where you're gonna go. I appreciate it. But no shoveling snow.

Mike Montoya: Oh, that's true. Very strange that we did that. That's very strange. Well, for our audience, I think, let's talk a tiny bit. You and I met when when we were younger, let's say that. We were both a little younger, and we were doing some work. We were doing community schools work in in and around the Peninsula region of San Francisco Bay. Right? Is that about right when we... That was, like, 2004?

Michelle Vilchez: Yes. Something like that? Yes. So many years ago. When the community school model was... I think it was new. It was new concept.

Michelle Vilchez: Schools were testing it out. Think there was apprehension, but there was a lot of just new research and this idea and structure that we could be in community and think about education from a wraparound perspective and thinking about social emotional learning, after school support, and what that really looks like. So those are good memories, Mike. That was good.

Mike Montoya: It was the beginning of a pretty significant effort in the space, right, to really do things with kids that were not just about... I think, like, No Child Left Behind was in place. Right? We were doing a lot of lot of high stakes testing was in place. And then the community schools was kind of, like, in some ways, a response to be supportive of children's whole child stuff, right, versus just them as as I call them, you know, engineers as engineers of math and science only, like, in the height, the testing pieces, right, especially with younger grades.

Mike Montoya: Right? So, okay, so that that kind of gives us a sense of where we started. Now, what are you doing roughly today? You're working you're working still in the same region of the country, right? But you're doing something a little bit different now. So tell me a little bit about what what your role is now and what you're working on.

Michelle Vilchez: Sure, for sure. So I, for the last five years, have been working with an organization I have the distinct pleasure of serving as CEO for an organization called Innovate Public Schools. And the idea is that, so we look at educational outcomes for kids, particularly black and brown students throughout the state of California.

Michelle Vilchez: And if we're just looking at California, the idea that our data is showing us that across across California, three to four students out of 10 students are reading at grade level and math proficiency is worse. We're seeing, especially right now, chronic absenteeism is at an all time high and graduation rates at an all time low.

Michelle Vilchez: There's just a variety of outcome and measures, indicators that are demonstrating that we have to do some work around education. And what we really believe at the heart of it all is that if we can engage and empower, build the capacity of parent leaders to advocate and really be at the forefront of saying nothing less than greatness is what my child deserves in terms of their educational outcomes, that we're really going to start to see the dial change.

Michelle Vilchez: And so we organize parents. We organize parents across the state of California, different regions throughout California that have larger populations of Black and brown students. And then at the state level, really pushing policy around education related to education and related to a variety of things like the right reading. Forgive me, the IEP interpretation and translation, the science of reading, teacher pipeline, a variety of big topic issues that parents are grappling with. And so we want to ensure that we're magnifying their voice at that state level.

Mike Montoya: Well, so focus on largely kids in urban centers still. Right? And lots of, as you said, even black and brown kids. California has a, like, a very high, I call it minority population. Right? So it's like a large number of kids that that are part of this, like, group you're talking about that are kind of chronically achieving as a population, not necessarily as individuals, but the school systems have not historically been really great at supporting them.

Mike Montoya: And a lot of kids, I think our audience knows probably some of this, but the opportunity gap and the achievement gap is a real thing. It started and we started measuring it back in 1980. So now we're way past that sixty years plus past that, right? And we're still struggling with the fact that what schools typically are doing is not sufficient, right, for the populations of kids as they continue to change.

Mike Montoya: Right? So the work is kinda ongoing. I don't feel like we've... I think we've made progress in some areas, and we certainly know more as a science about, like, what kids need to do to learn. But we have a really hard time applying that, and I think in some cases, parents are disempowered, right, I think is one of the words that I I I tend to use is that they're like, hey.

Mike Montoya: I give up my power to the schools, and they're not doing it, so I'm out of choices. Right? That's kind of a little bit, like, I think about this work. Is similar to what you guys think?

Michelle Vilchez: Well, a couple of things of what you mentioned. One is that we don't necessarily feel like families are disempowered. I mean, the power exists there. Appreciate the premise for sure. And the way that we look at it is that a lot of the families that we're working with actually surrender a lot of their power.

Michelle Vilchez: They're surrendering a lot of their power because maybe they come from particular regions or they come from communities outside of The United States where education is the end all be all. The educators know everything. The teacher knows everything, the superintendent. So why would I question any of it? So that's one thing.

Michelle Vilchez: Number two is that I don't... I think even for families that are here within those different urban pockets that we're talking about throughout California and beyond, I think that families may not understand that they can magnify their voice. They can actually partner with the school. They can see the outcomes and that the school wants to partner with families.

Michelle Vilchez: And we have some of those traditional platforms for that. We have school site councils and parent teacher associations. And we have collaborations that already exist that are in place. But those don't tend to be the families that we're organizing. Those tend to be the ones that understand their power, their influence, the potential for their influence, and how they can really demand high quality education in some of the regions across California with some of the more affluent communities.

Michelle Vilchez: They know how to navigate the system. They know they don't need to question. They know what schools are the greatest schools. And they know where their kids are going to be able to be supported in a way that is meant for them. And they have the resources.

Michelle Vilchez: It always comes back to money as an influencer. They have the resources to live in those particular communities. For other families, they don't necessarily have those choices. So early on, the issues were related to supply and demand. How we create more opportunities for all families?

Michelle Vilchez: And what would that look like for all students to have the best quality education? One of the things that we do is we put out a top schools report. Actually, anybody can find it on our website. It's free for downloading. And it takes information.

Michelle Vilchez: So one of the ways that we are really building capacity of families to ensure that they have adequate data, that it is digestible. The data is out there. But families like myself or others who English may not be their first language or may not understand how to navigate through all of that data and information, we make it digestible so families can say, how are the schools in my region, forgive me, performing?

Michelle Vilchez: What does this look like? How are they supporting my child and the unique needs of my child? I have my own experience, but what is the data showing us? So we put out that report. And for other families throughout the state that understand how to navigate that, who may have the resources to not only live in a community that has high performing schools, but they have resources to supplement with high impact tutoring or one on one tutoring, then the outcomes look a little different.

Michelle Vilchez: But for families who may not have those type of choices, we want to be able to get data in their hands and ensure that they can magnify their voice. And so that's really at the key of what we do.

Mike Montoya: That's part of the angle, right? It's sort of providing, call it, it's like a set of tools in a way and some training. Think you guys do a bunch of training with parents as leaders so that they can also organize themselves and communicate amongst their own constituency groups, etcetera so that they become a little bit more of a powerful block of individuals that have a voice. Is that a little bit of a fair

Michelle Vilchez: Absolutely. Other thing that we're doing is that it's all about relationship building. In our organizing cycle, we have this principle that the power is in the relationship. So the idea is that I am having my own experience as a parent. Mike, I think I've told you, but I have four children. And so they've gone through the educational system.

Michelle Vilchez: And when you're thinking about that, what that actually looks like, as a parent, I know what my experience is. And I'm very familiar with the experience. And we've dealt with 405 plans and IEPs and making decisions around charter, magnet, public traditional, like what does that actually look like? What's the information? It's a lot to manage.

Michelle Vilchez: And I think that what tends to happen is that families are having those experiences, but they're feeling very alone. They're feeling very isolated. And so the other thing that we're doing is building relationships across these silos that exist, not because there's any fault that families have in it, but because that's just their experience or life is happening and keeping them very divided from other communities.

Michelle Vilchez: So this idea that we can actually be stronger together when we're magnifying our voice, when we're sharing our story, when we're creating these pockets of empathy and action together. It's not only listening to each other and getting smarter on what we know in terms of the data. It's pushing towards action. Now you and I, Mike, are going to work on something together.

Michelle Vilchez: We're going to create the change together. We're going to develop recommendations and move that is going to move and create these changes, policy changes that are going to impact my child. Yes, and make it better for my child. Yes, absolutely. But make it better for all of our children and for generations to come.

Mike Montoya: Yeah. So, it's action oriented efforts and opportunities for people to work together. It's almost like building, I call it, social capital amongst communities that maybe are like, not again, naturally falling into those opportunities. Right. And like, someone was like, think, I don't know. So maybe, and we'll go back. I want to hear about that.

Mike Montoya: I want to talk about your kids and your experience because I got to go there because like, I think about my own, my remember, my mother was super activist as a as a single parent, right, and taking care of, like, the opportunities for myself and my sister because she felt like education was, like, such a critical factor, right, in in our long term success. And so she was deeply involved in all those traditional systems, the PTAs, the parent volunteering, showing up at the schools and and being...

Mike Montoya: I I can't... I cannot remember a year that she didn't kind of get into something with my school leader or my principal or one of my teachers around something that was important for me from her perspective. Right? And I think that, like, she was a very, I call it take charge kind of parent.

Mike Montoya: I think there were other parents like that too probably, but I know that she was like, that was how she was. So tell me a little bit about your kids and your family. I think maybe they're growing up now. Most of them are kind of clearly growing. Is that true?

Michelle Vilchez: Do I age myself? Let's see. So we have four, two boys and two girls, and our eldest is grown. Our second just got married like two months ago. Our third is about to graduate from UC Santa Cruz. Go slugs. And our fourth is graduating from high school in the Sequoia Union High School District in our region.

Michelle Vilchez: So we're really very grateful, very, very grateful. It's been... And I am a child of immigrant parents. My husband is a child of immigrant parents. We were the ones who were translating, interpreting, navigating the system. I engaged, I had supportive family, parents certainly, that wanted to advocate more for me.

Michelle Vilchez: But I was the child in middle school and high school that took three public buses from where I lived in Coachella Valley, a very southern region of California, out into Palm Springs so that I could go to a school that my mom and my dad thought was going to give me more opportunities. At the time, the public school district did not provide transportation to the children.

Michelle Vilchez: I was on public buses. In the desert, we call them the sun bus. They are the sun buses. And that's what you took. So at a very young age, I'm riding these buses to get to a campus where for the most of my education, I was in trailers.

Michelle Vilchez: I had substitute teachers. So it's like thinking about that from an immigrant family perspective. And now given the experience that my husband and I have, we're both college educated, we're bilingual, we understand how systems work, we're highly engaged civically. This thought about civil engagement and what does that look like? And we've had to navigate challenges, I think, that different parents have.

Michelle Vilchez: And I mentioned some of them before. So I think that we're grateful for the system. We're grateful for the fact, but certainly understand our privilege that we have. We actually moved about twenty seven years ago into a traditionally or historically redlined community on purpose. We did that on purpose because we wanted to ensure that we were surrounding our children and our family with the diversity, the richness of culture and traditions, not only from the Latino perspective, but certainly from the Black community and the historically Black neighborhood that we were moving into, the Pacific Islander as well, and Asian American.

Michelle Vilchez: And so all of these changes that have happened are certainly have taken place over the last twenty plus years. And gentrification is a real thing. But the school districts are a little slower in catching up to what that actually means. So the price of homes has increased drastically, dramatically. But the quality of our education in those same areas, that's taking a little bit longer. So we've had to be really creative and thoughtful about what that looks like for our kids.

Mike Montoya: It's like one of the great conundrums in our society. If you choose to live amongst your people, let's call it that, and close to things that are either familiar or enticing to make sure that your children also have roots in different ways that you have them. It gets hard when the schools don't meet you where you are.

Mike Montoya: And that can be... It's one of the great dances. Do know and I have other friends, of course, that have moved out into the suburbs, etcetera, in order to achieve, like, high quality schools like Orinda and Lamorinda and those places, like, incredible opportunity schools. Right? But, like, it's a very different kind of cultural experience for for kids and families right out there.

Mike Montoya: And it's, like, a thing that's just, like, not... And as you said, the prices of housing in some of these communities is quite prohibitive, right, for many folks, So you mentioned Coachella. Go ahead.

Michelle Vilchez: No, Mike. And I mean, that in and of itself, I mean, how are we not outraged? Like how are we not outraged that, again, money allows your child to have more quality experience? I mean, it's just a truth. It could be money, resources, the opportunity to navigate. It is those trade offs.

Michelle Vilchez: But why are we not outraged that every child has to fall within luck on whether or not they live within a community or given the opportunity? At one point, I remember being in the car driving with our kids. And we were with our three youngest. My husband asked, one is in college. One was at college at the time.

Michelle Vilchez: The other one is in high school and middle school. And my husband asking the question, do you feel like you've had a quality education? Like, do you think that you've had a quality education? And our kids are like, well, yeah, kind of. One of them went to private.

Michelle Vilchez: The other went to he got a scholarship. What goes into a quality education? We went into this like real, you know, pretty deep conversation, very opinionated. All of our kids, we've raised them. We're like, well, it's not only the school, it's also our own drive, but it's also what we did with it.

Michelle Vilchez: I went to this school, but did I take advantage of all these opportunities and really exploring that? Why is that just not the standard that every child has access to high quality education? And that's one of the things that we're really battling with and struggling with is, do we set a course for our organization to focus on that first and foremost?

Michelle Vilchez: To say, let's ensure that every child has the best quality education ever. Let's amend the constitution together. Let's think about what that actually means as we move into this space of inequity. And that might get some tension to be able to say that. But I think that that is an issue that we need to talk about, that not everybody has the opportunities across the board.

Mike Montoya: Well, and I'll be careful about walking into the school funding conversation because it's quite complex, right? But it's one of the elements that really drives for differentiation of quality of opportunities. You said it like money matters. It matters if you can afford to live in a particular community, the resources that the laws of different states in California in particular allow for kind of jurisdictions to draw lines around themselves in terms of the monies and the taxes, etcetera, and where the money can flow.

Mike Montoya: And so kids will have 5 or $10,000 more per kid if they live in Piedmont than if they live in Oakland, as an example. And those are some of things that are kind of structurally in place. Right? And I would say... I mean, I'm a little policy wonky. Right? I would say, like, we're on the far end of the spectrum of people who have been, like, deeply involved in this for our careers.

Mike Montoya: Right? But, like, a lot of folks don't really know that, like, there's this huge gap between those resource types. Is that true? Is that is that kind of what I mean, do parents really know much about the funding landscape at all?

Michelle Vilchez: Actually, it's so it's so interesting that you would ask that question. Okay.

Mike Montoya: So for audience that was like, we a tech issue, now we're back. And so we were talking about resources. And I asked the question, I said, do parents know, do parents recognize or know that there's a huge gap in resources available to public school kids? Or is it like a big educational component that you have to sort of charge towards?

Michelle Vilchez: No, they totally... So I would say the average family member probably does not clearly understand where you follow the money, how it works. Even a well educated and informed parent may not be able to articulate what that looks like. And also, my state looks different than your state. So it looks very different across the board.

Michelle Vilchez: And then locally, what does that look like? And is money allocated to schools is one, and districts is one. How the school and district spends the money is two. So those two big areas is what we spend a lot of time on to build the capacity of our families to really understand. What does it mean?

Michelle Vilchez: How does it look like? What is budget? How school leaders determine how they're going to spend dollars? And what's the role of families around accountability. Like, actually, these dollars are intended for this particular type of programming. Is it being spent in that way?

Michelle Vilchez: One of the biggest areas that our families advocated in the state of California is around Extended Learning Opportunity Program or ELOP. And a couple of years ago, we were part of a coalition that won out on $5 billion, B as in burrito, a billion dollars out on extended learning opportunities. And so now what we've been really working towards for families in particular regions is that accountability portion of it.

Michelle Vilchez: Okay? We want to make sure that families know that this is how the dollars are supposed to be spent. How are we engaging with after school providers and networks across the state of California? And how are we supporting their families to really understand and to hold the system accountable? Because at the end of the day, if that money is not spent the way that it's intended to, then families are missing out.

Mike Montoya: Yes. Where does might go? It gets really messy on the financial accountability side because you can't see where it goes. And if they and if they don't know that it's the... A, that it's there and b, that it's being spent appropriately, I mean, Stronger is a big proponent of, hey. High quality programming. Right?

Mike Montoya: And, like, we see in our clients and across the the country, right, that there's, like, super high levels of variability in terms of the quality of experiences that kids are having, especially in after school. Right? Like, some of them are like babysitting factories, which childcare is a real thing and it's a necessary item, but also is it actually enriching your kid's experience as it should be?

Mike Montoya: Or are they getting the extra dosage of math or tutoring support, things that are essential to their upbringing and the opportunity? Because there are these gatekeeping things that happen at different stages, like if they can't read by third grade, that they can't do a certain level of math by sixth grade, like they sort of, I call it, sort of hard to de facto get tracked into lower and lower opportunities.

Mike Montoya: Like then you get this class instead of that class, and then you end up with like this pathway to A through G requirements versus another one, right? And so California has all these very, if you miss the boat in sixth grade, then you're kind of sailing kind of shy for a few years, right?

Mike Montoya: That's kind of how it works. And I don't know if you guys think about that very much, but

Michelle Vilchez: It's a lot about that. No, high quality, it is about... I'll just give you examples of what that actually has looked like. About five years ago, our families, parent leaders, particularly in San Francisco Unified School District and Los Angeles School District, which is our two largest school districts throughout the state of California.

Michelle Vilchez: So our parent leaders started talking about high impact tutoring and really paying a lot of attention. We were in the throes of COVID and remote learning. And parent leaders started hearing about high impact tutoring, our high dose tutoring at the time. We were talking a lot about high dose tutoring. And realized that there were a number of high impact tutor providers that were supporting different families, but they were costing upwards of $200 an hour to be able to supplement what children were not actually getting because of remote learning.

Michelle Vilchez: So we started we went all in in really understanding what was the research and data telling us about high impact tutoring. What are some of the outcomes and impacts that can come from it? How can it supplement both inside of school and outside of school? What does quality actually mean? Defining quality and defining quality together with families.

Michelle Vilchez: What does it mean for them as well, not only in terms of the research, but personal experience and testimonials? And we actually published a couple of years, about a year and a half ago, we published a toolkit for parents and providers that really helps to understand high impact tutoring, that definition, and what that actually looks like.

Michelle Vilchez: And just yesterday, in The Peninsula, we hosted a tutoring summit for parent leaders, for providers, for district leaders, for funders to say, hey, this is still a thing. This is still very important. We had over 100 registrants come and participate and engage in an all day session, first to really hear from families, what do families want?

Michelle Vilchez: And parent leaders were actually the forefront. They facilitated the whole day. They helped us co design what that actually looked like. And then we had a ton of tutors. So talking about quality, the money is certainly part of it.

Michelle Vilchez: Well, the accountability and partnering with schools and districts, and then ensuring that it's quality and helping to define that together. This idea of co creating that standard together is really a powerful one.

Mike Montoya: Yeah. Well, and I appreciate the good old school community collect collective gathering, right? There's, you know, 100 people in a room at round tables, there's usually some food and never enough food, it feels like right, there's always like, oh, we forgot to order enough food, type of thing. But like people getting together, And actually kind of I call it holding each other, that feeds the fire a little bit and accountable.

Mike Montoya: Because I feel like we all get a little bit... Like, it's easy for us to forget pretty easily. Right? If we're ever in a position of power or responsibility, it's easy for us to think, like, it's going okay when maybe it's not because we don't get to see it very much, and we need to kinda be reminded.

Mike Montoya: Right? And I think... And, also, I think there's a lot of, like, you know, when parents get together and are are leading each other, they're back to the strengthening the the place of power, right, that that families actually have in the system, right, that that it's not just, like, up to the superintendent on their own to go make a plan and decisions that that is like void of of responsibility.

Mike Montoya: Right? And like this is a collective action right in that regard. So I appreciate that. So thanks for sharing about that. What's your website called? It's innovate.org. Is that right?

Michelle Vilchez: It's innovate. It will, so now you can go to-

Mike Montoya: And it's changed it, right?

Michelle Vilchez: It's changed now. So you can go to webuildpower.org you see us be able to pop up there.

Mike Montoya: Correct, so webuildpower.org. Oh yes, there we go. Yes, I remember the change. So I wanna make sure we put this in the show notes too, so people can come and check out innovate schools, but webuildpower.org and then it will take you to innovate. And then that's where some of the reports and things are, Is that right?

Michelle Vilchez: Reports are there. You'll read a little bit about our grassroot organizing that is taking place, ton of resources, ton around our partnerships, our Black student achievement efforts and our policy briefs. All of it is all there. And you can sign up for our newsletter and really understand. Some of the big trainings that you talked about are parent leadership institutes.

Michelle Vilchez: We actually did that about two and a half months ago. We had over 170 parent leaders from this region come together for an entire weekend to really learn the organizing cycle. What does it mean to partner with the school? What does it mean to be heard and magnify your voice? How can I understand better the funding, the accountability, the program allocation?

Michelle Vilchez: How can I really hold my school accountable? And how can I get and partner, have the opportunity to partner with other parents who I know and don't know to be able to get this work done? So really exciting. So that's one of our big trainings. And then the other is a fellowship, either between four to six month fellowship to learn how do I organize, how do I tap into this brilliance of parent leadership, and how do I maximize the opportunity?

Michelle Vilchez: A lot of school districts and other nonprofits are doing family engagement. And we just want to offer this organizing framework to really understand where does it come from, how is it driven, what are the principles of this engagement, and how can I replicate it for my community that I love and care so deeply about?

Mike Montoya: Right. So you have some of these trainings that are available nationally, right, with organizations and leaders across the country and school systems that are choosing to participate in this way. Right? Yes. So it's a great resource. And I feel like it makes me think about, like, leadership development in general. Right? Like, There's a never ending need for it because every year another crop of families and parents come into the experience.

Mike Montoya: And some of them, as you said, it evolves. The systems definitely change and adapt in some ways, but also if you move to a different part of the state or a different part of the city, you may have a totally different experience. And so the engagement around these things can look quite differently.

Mike Montoya: But as you said, parents, I think, have so many innate capabilities as just humans that care about their kids. And sometimes they just need to be pointed towards an aim of sorts, almost point at the horizon right? And then they can go kind of together, if that makes sense, right? That's kind of how I see that.

Michelle Vilchez: I love what you said, Mike. There are these innate skills and ability. What we build on is the fact that as parents, as guardians, we love our children so much. So it's based on that. What would I not do for my child?

Michelle Vilchez: The last few years since the pandemic, we've really struggled with a variety of things related to mental health for one of my children. We did all of the plans and have worked with the phenomenal schools and district supports that exist. But this idea that, and I say, if I wasn't organizing around education, I'd be organizing around mental health in general.

Michelle Vilchez: And they really are one and the same when it comes to education. There's just so much. There was just a recent report that came out that how COVID has still to this day impacted a child's well-being and mental health. I say that. Why? Because there's nothing I wouldn't do for my child.

Michelle Vilchez: There's nothing. I want to set them up for the greatest success. And I think that we draw from that. Another organizing principle is who do you love? Like, do you love? What means the most to you?

Michelle Vilchez: And as a parent, that's the self interest. Like, there's nothing I wouldn't do to ensure that while I'm here and even after I'm gone, my child is set up for success. They're going to get the best resources possible. And if if I'm able and it's within my power, I'm going to do everything I can to advocate for it.

Michelle Vilchez: So yeah, I think that's that's what's so beautiful about the work, the testimonies, the individuals who are at the forefront, it's beautiful. The one thing I wanted to mention too is, yeah, we're doing a ton of things on a national level. Our team just came back from Chicago to do some parent leadership training there, some organizing training.

Michelle Vilchez: Before that, we were in North Dakota. And we're talking to Texas right now. Before that, we've been in Utah and North Carolina. We've been in DC. We've had these relationships.

Michelle Vilchez: We're not trying to do the organizing on the ground. We don't really have the capacity for that. What we want to do is build the capacity of other organizations to do it. We have some proof points we want to share. We have the test kitchens.

Michelle Vilchez: We've been doing this for going on fourteen years. But the culmination of all of it is not to keep the secrets or to gatekeep. We want to share the good news. You know, when you've tasted something so amazing, you're like, Mike, have you gone to that restaurant? It's phenomenal. Or have you had this particular, have you tried this particular recipe?

Michelle Vilchez: Let me share it with you. And I think that that's what we want to do. And one of the things that we're going to be focused on within this next year is we're going to be developing policy toolkit. So it's another aspect of capacity building to different organizations throughout The United States that want to utilize parent power building to move outcomes around policy reform.

Michelle Vilchez: And how do you actually do that? And so we want to be able to put the recipe, if you will, in the hands of other organizations and then train them how to do that. So we're doing that across The United States and really, really excited about it.

Mike Montoya: Well, when you think about the numbers of children, again, that come into the the public school systems over time, right, this is, like, an enormous number of kids over time. Right? And and I would think that, like, even if you have a a small effect on a total population, right, that that can make a huge difference, certainly to the lives of that small sector of kids.

Mike Montoya: But if you do in fact make some of these big policy moves, which are quite difficult in California to be clear, let's be honest about the size and scope of the scale of that state. These are kind of significant in, I call it big dents in a big system that you can make a huge difference.

Mike Montoya: And I think in particular, it's parent action that have really played a big role in things like ensuring that you've had, I call it, effective utilization of special education law, right, in particular. Right? And I think that the expansion of the special education IEP applications has gone up considerably because, right, we've become better at, I call it navigating that whole system, and that comes from the actions of places like Innovate.

Mike Montoya: Right? So I think we all have something, I think, we call it appreciation, right, for for organizers. Right? They kinda make this stuff happen because, you know, otherwise, we wouldn't even know about it, frankly, without somebody sort of taking the actions and moving in that direction.

Michelle Vilchez: We've calculated that our parent leaders across the state allow us to, in essence, punch above our weight. It's given us that's really where the power is. And for every one parent leader that is activated and engaged in their region, they have the potential to impact another 10 to 20 individuals. So you take a particular region, let's say like LAUSD that serves close to 800,000 students, but you're able to activate 500 families, that actually translates to 5,000.

Michelle Vilchez: Those 5,000 then translate to another 50,000. So what does that look like? That's where we're trying to start the grass fires. And in California, we were really careful on not saying brush fire. But it's winter. And so we're hoping that we're going get some rain again soon.

Michelle Vilchez: So, you know, thinking about like, how does that catch on? What does that actually mean? And how much power can come from it? And I think that that's why we're clear that we don't want to do this alone. We want to be working in partnership, not only with organizations here throughout California, but outside, because the more that we can set ablaze to this particular movement, the more that we're going to see policies start to change, influencing local practices, statewide policies, and creating the type of change that our children need for generations.

Michelle Vilchez: And then you're talking about hundreds of thousands of individuals being implemented or forgive me, being supported and impacted from the work. So we do believe in it and it's sustainable. The other part of it is often far too often, and you see it, Mike, you work with a variety of districts and schools throughout your career, is that we see change happen with your leadership.

Michelle Vilchez: Tends to stay the same is the community will stay the same. The community is going to stay there. And where outcomes can be co created and solutions can be co created on extremely complex issues, it's probably going to be more buy in, more sustainable, more long term outcomes that are really possible. And I think also families are ready for real complex issues.

Michelle Vilchez: Talk about special needs. We were able to partner. It was culminated out of a local campaign in the city, in San Francisco, where families were talking about special needs and IEP interpretation and translation. And in some cases, families were not getting their IEPs interpreted or translated up to ninety days. And so if you're not an English speaker and you're not able to actually support your child with an IEP and the IEP that's being implemented or hold a school accountable for different accommodations.

Michelle Vilchez: How do you navigate if the language is not so San Francisco adopted SFUSD was phenomenal. They adopted this policy. Then we were able to get the word out. And then we were able to work with an assembly member who helped us drive the law into the governor's hands who signed it last October.

Michelle Vilchez: So about one year ago, today it got signed into law. And from that, parent leaders started asking the question, how do we utilize technology to help How us do do we utilize AI? Yes, it's great, but how do we get in the hands of families right now? And they co designed and co created a platform with the support of engineers from Northeastern University and the Innovation Lab to create this platform that now is being implemented in a variety of different regions.

Michelle Vilchez: We actually launched it about five months ago in San Francisco Unified School District. And now we're talking about another pilot in LAUSD. And the hope is that if we can get a district to adopt it, it's been phenomenal. Safety has always come up as an And districts have been amazed at the firewalls and the systems that are in place to ensure that privacy is really being upheld.

Michelle Vilchez: So parents are ready to deal with really complex or to create solutions around complex issues. We just need to trust them enough. And I think that that's a big statement to make. Do we trust them?

Mike Montoya: I know. And I think we tend to... As people who have been here a couple generations, we tend to... I won't put you in this bucket either, but I know it's easy to start to think like, oh, because the language is different than my primary language, right, that they... That these folks are undereducated and unable to engage in that complex stuff.

Mike Montoya: Right? And it's just not the truth. Right? And I think any, like, kind of, like, when you think about it, it's, like, obviously, that's not true, but it's, like, really easy for us to default to that when we can't communicate with each other that there's like a, almost like a thinking gap, which is not, which is again not true.

Mike Montoya: I think that it's really easy for us to fall in that way. I was thinking about when you were talking about the translation, was thinking about AI, because I use it all the time to translate things into... But I'm not using it for student data, of course. I don't have the same sign of safety issue concerns, but I'm glad to hear that there's, I call it experiments and pilots going on because it feels like tech can probably solve a lot of these challenges like language barriers.

Mike Montoya: I think my iPhone translates stuff all the time. That's right. So it's been good for travel, but it's... I think those are the things that we should all... We we can be excited about, I think, in many cases. Right? I also feel like you know, living in the Bay Area, there's this, like, opportunity because, like, so there is so much tech tech excitement, right, and, a constant flow of money, right, that there's opportunities there that, like, a lot of places in the country would be like, oh, I never thought of that. But, you know, San Francisco is, like, always kind of gunning for the bigger things.

Michelle Vilchez: That's right. We're innovative. Why not be a trend center? Like, love that. Why not? That's what And we're we're in the... I'm right now a rock throw from Meta and other, you know, and where Oracle used to be and Genentech.

Michelle Vilchez: And we're embedded in the most innovative place. Okay, there's others. Portland is another. That's a great person.

Mike Montoya: You got a big one, though. Got the rooms.

Michelle Vilchez: Austin, you know, we get it. But Silicon Valley was the first. It was kind of in the Bay Area. So why wouldn't families think about the use of AI and technology? Other districts are engaging in that conversation and they're creating those protocols and policies around them.

Michelle Vilchez: Families want to be a part of that. And I recently attended summit to talk about, again, youth mental health and outcomes for kids and what that actually looks like. And I won't name the place. I won't name the districts that were involved. I won't name the region.

Michelle Vilchez: But we were in a room where this plan was being launched. It was being unveiled. And we had probably upwards of two fifty district and community leaders, mostly grass tops. I would say about 99% grass tops in the room, policy leaders. There was behavioral health, public health, health in general.

Michelle Vilchez: All of us sitting in this room for this plan, phenomenal plan, lovely plan. And as I looked through that plan, I kept seeing where families were in the role of on the receiving end. They were in a constituent mindset role, this idea that, oh, we need to build the capacity of families. And that was one of the outcomes.

Michelle Vilchez: Or we need to share this information with families. Or we need to help train families on this. Always on the receiving end. And when I ask questions to others around, how was this plan developed and designed? You have a whole five to ten year indicators and key outcomes and key results that we've were families part of the conversation?

Michelle Vilchez: And families are tired of being on the receiving end of things. They want to co create. They want to stand in places where hard conversations are taking place. And they want to offer solutions. And they want to be part of the design of it.

Michelle Vilchez: And they want to create it. I think that the time is now as complex as it seems, as complex as the system seems, and as sad as our outcomes are, families are ready to be at the forefront of planning and solution building and co creating and thinking innovatively. They're doing it already. So I think that we're missing the opportunity.

Michelle Vilchez: We're missing the opportunity to be in a place of partnership. There is this idea of radical solidarity and this idea that we are in a place of radical solidarity and radical partnerships. Those unlikely partners need to be working with each other to ensure that outcomes and that ultimately our community looks and feels the way that it needs to.

Mike Montoya: Well, and I think you've kind of nailed it. I feel like there maybe we've, you know, it's almost like a a light bulb goes on for me when I think about, like, part of the reason that the the achievement gap and opportunity gap continues to persist, right, in our country, right, is that, like, grass tops have struggled to really imagine how the actual constituents that are part of the system can and should be engaged in ways that are meaningful for them so that it's not just the noisy few parents, but globally parents and families are connected and engaged in the work that is about their children and their kids.

Mike Montoya: And I think that's like a real... It's harder work harder work than sitting in a room and thinking for yourself and deciding, right, like, how these, you know, literally billions of dollars are gonna be spent. Right? It's harder work than that to engage people and ask them questions and listen to them and then actually implement with that in mind.

Mike Montoya: But it's also maybe part of the the missing the missing leg, right, in this whole project, right? So

Michelle Vilchez: That's what we believe.

Mike Montoya: Yeah. Plenty of work to do. Plenty of work to do.

Michelle Vilchez: You had a question earlier in terms of like, the families that we're engaging tend to be the ones that are disempowered in ways. I think that what we're looking at now is some of the families that we're engaging with and building the capacity for or with in collaboration with them are actually being silenced.

Michelle Vilchez: They feel silenced. It's not only not, no, do I not care what you have to share? I don't actually want to hear from you. And that, you know, that is, this is the time where in some communities, they're feeling silenced. And that looks a variety of different ways. All you have to do is look at Instagram or look at social media or look at the news and listen to, for those who still read the paper, which I do, there are communities being silenced right now.

Michelle Vilchez: And so we need to ensure that the mechanisms and the platforms still exist to agitate, to be engaged in those dialogue, dialogue and deliberative conversation, dialogic and deliberative conversations. And I think whether we agree with each other 100%, that's not really the issue. But can we partner together to really see sustainable solutions and outcomes for our children? I think it's possible. I think we can.

Mike Montoya: Yeah. Well, I think, you know, school districts are almost like the genesis of of, you know, democracy in many ways. Right? Like, we're we're... Not only are they a very small unit, right, of democracy. Right? That's a that's an elected school board in many cases or a publicly elected, you know, charter school board, something like that.

Mike Montoya: These are entities that exist that it's easy to get access to those, you know, elected individuals, right, etcetera. And then they... We're literally educating the next generation of civically engaged humans from the moment that they learn to walk and to eat and breathe and that kind of work. And this is the genesis of our democracy is that if we don't do this well, we end up with the next generation of people that are more and more disenfranchised.

Mike Montoya: Right? And they kinda don't believe that their voice matters. Right? And I think that's a huge risk factor, right, for for us. And I think that it takes organizations and agencies and people that have, you know, chosen this as their careers and professions, right, to to make it possible for folks. Right? Because, you know, everybody's also trying to, like, feed themselves and and, you know, take care of the basics.

Mike Montoya: Right? You know, make sure that there's there's a roof over their heads. Right? And so, like, not everybody can be wholly engaged in all all sorts of things. But, I mean, there has to be opportunities, right, and pathways for folks to do that in both ways. Right? So plenty of work to do.

Mike Montoya: Before we wrap, I wanna shift gears for just a minute into a little bit on the leadership side in particular. Right? So this is, like, a moment to be a little reflective and and bring a little bit of some of your, again, not... Let's just call it your wisdom, right, to the space because because, you know, experience matters in this case.

Mike Montoya: And when you think about your your leadership arc, right, what are what are one or two things that that you... If you're looking back, right, you're like, hey. Like, this was a important lesson that I learned at some place during your time that... And it really informs and kinda keeps you kinda steady as as a guide, right, for you now, something that you picked up earlier in your in your career that you're like, now I'm like, hey, I held onto that. It's an important feature. Tell me something. I know you had a couple in there.

Michelle Vilchez: Yeah, I appreciate this. Oh my goodness. I appreciate this question so much. Yeah, I remember my first opportunity as a leader within an organization. We've heard so many times, Mike, about this idea of imposter syndrome. And I cared so much about what people thought about me and my leadership.

Michelle Vilchez: And I remember my first annual appraisal. And I was sitting there with my board members and a few of them that had led the process. And they were really consumed and talked about on that document what I was wearing, how I looked, how I presented myself, this idea, and not really focused on the impact that I was having as a leader.

Michelle Vilchez: And I remember leaving that appraisal and just weeping and going back the next board meeting. And I think that I felt like, wait a second, that has nothing to do with who I am as a leader, whether I'm not presenting myself in a certain way or what that actually looks like. And as a matter of fact, I was the only person of color that historically had ever been at the helm of that organization.

Michelle Vilchez: So what did that actually mean like? What did that mean? The significance of that. And was the board equipped to actually support me in my leadership as first time ED? Then I went down this pathway of looking at data and what does data tell us?

Michelle Vilchez: Data tells us that first time EDs, especially those individuals of color, only spend the first two to three years in that role before they leave or give up being in the nonprofit sector altogether. So what was this telling me? And I think the lesson learned there is it doesn't matter what they think of me.

Michelle Vilchez: It doesn't. It's whether or not I am utilizing supports and resources and systems to actually get better, to talk to others? Am I building community? That's the biggest lesson is that had I learned early on that it was like, I love thank you board, thank you boards in general. If you serve on a board, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Michelle Vilchez: So many ways. But am I connecting to other EDs that are having similar experiences so I don't feel like I'm losing my mind? Like, am I losing? Is it just me experiencing this? Is everyone experiencing the fact that we have less dollars and more work? Okay, is it, oh, it's just, it's a trend.

Michelle Vilchez: Okay, or I feel like where can I pull data from? And again, I spoke about this earlier, the power really is in the relationship. Who can I draw from? How can I learn from their lessons? How can I seek expertise?

Michelle Vilchez: And how can I not recreate things constantly? Hey, do you have this I can take a look at? Is there something you could share with me? Is there a template? We're thinking about doing X, Y, and Z.

Michelle Vilchez: Have you ever done this before? Tell me what your experience was. Where can I learn the lessons? Where are the bumps in the road? All of that is talk to others, build your community, create your cohort, your sisterhood.

Michelle Vilchez: I've been in so many cohorts now that are just pure women, women of color in a space, learning from each other. I'm in a cohort right now of how women lead that is a Latina only cohort from leaders from across The United States and Brazil to understand, I'm leading out in this effort.

Michelle Vilchez: What does this look like? So invest in yourself, in your own learning and development and the time and energy, totally worth it. Totally worth it. I wasted at least a good fifteen years on that.

Mike Montoya: Well, right. You can't wait for others to do it for you. And certainly, it's very rare for people to think of others that are not like themselves very carefully to think like, oh, people can maybe empathize or maybe they can sympathize, but they can't really be in your shoes, so they can't empathize effectively with a woman of color or a female leader or first time ED, like boards are just not kind of like intentionally not built that way.

Mike Montoya: They're sort of diverse out by purpose. But they don't often think about like, where is this person coming from? What might they need? We run into that a lot. I appreciate you pointing that out.

Mike Montoya: I think it's like one of the things that is unspoken and doesn't get talked about enough, right? Is like how leadership is evolving in the nonprofit space in general, right? Is that like, we are leaning into, there are more women leaders than there have been historically, but there's still not as many. It's certainly not equal in terms of men to women, for example.

Mike Montoya: And then also just in terms of the supports and systems that are available to folks, folks, they're not as robust. And maybe you didn't go to boarding school and have a magic, whatever the things are that people have a privilege. You came from a different kind of background and experience. So you've had to build up some of that capability on your own and through others, I call it investing in you and through you.

Mike Montoya: Those are things. How do you pay it forward now? Are you doing that with anybody? It sounds like you're part of a cohort and leading them through that you're a mentor for others. Like tell me more about that.

Michelle Vilchez: Oh my goodness. So right before I started with Innovate, I launched Silicon Valley Multicultural Awards Program that was designed as an eighteen month fellowship for first time EDs of color. This idea, actually that first year we raised about $3 million to set them up for success. I ended up transitioning out of the organization, but that work did continue for a few years after that.

Michelle Vilchez: This idea that if we could support each other on a regional basis, support each other in our first time role as executive directors, that we're going to be more sustainable. At least 80% of that first class are still EDs, which is great. It's a win for me. They're still executives. They're either in their organization or another organization.

Michelle Vilchez: They're thriving. They're still in community together, which matters so much. They've learned so much, been able to draw from that relationship. Then I believe in mentorship. I believe in mentorship deeply, in coaching. Believe in coaching. Coach, think that that, I think it matters investing in yourself and being in relationship with each other, having regular calls with individuals that you just want to get in spaces, not because you need anything more than just to be in relationship with each other.

Michelle Vilchez: We know that nonprofit leadership, like other leadership, it's a very isolating role. It can feel very lonely. And so being in community, similar to what I was talking about with parent leaders, being able to work together, I believe in partnership. I don't want to do anything by myself. I don't want to have wins and success when we can have greater impact together.

Michelle Vilchez: And right now, given the funding landscape, it would behoove us not to work in partnership. This scarcity mentality, like, can we please, for the love of God, throw it out the window and think that we can be greater and better and stronger together and share resources. There's enough work out there and certainly enough resources if we can do it together.

Michelle Vilchez: So it's working a little bit smarter and the grind is real. So love that. I believe in mentors. And they don't actually have to be mentors that are more seasoned than me. They're new. I can learn a lot. Yeah, a ton of stuff, especially around technology and how to do that.

Michelle Vilchez: And they're like, we got a solution. You can text somebody. I'll tell you right back. My 20 some mentor. Love that.

Mike Montoya: That's why your kids are valuable in addition to that mean like, you know, talking to

Michelle Vilchez: you too much. Don't think that stay away from I have to pretend like I know what I'm doing. Because they just shame they shame. They shame.

Mike Montoya: Yeah, that's that's well, I mean, you know, we all uncover the day when we can, like, put our phones away and never had to pick them up again. Right? That that day will come, but not soon. So I think is ideal. So I appreciate you, a, for the work that you do for the person that you are, and for being my colleague and friend for many years, and also for being part of this journey that Stronger and Stronger's community is on.

Mike Montoya: I mean, you're part of our, I call it, our family, right? And I'm deeply grateful for the work that you're doing. And, you know, more more more to come in the years ahead. And I think you said it Stronger Together and people keep saying that. And I'm like, hey, I didn't even have to invent that. It was really fun.

Michelle Vilchez: Oh, I appreciate. No, Mike, thank you so much for the invitation. Such an honor. I'm so grateful for you and your team and all that you do throughout United States and working with many of us who really care deeply and are coming at education from a variety of different roads and just ensuring that we're well connected.

Mike Montoya: I appreciate it. We're doing better, man. We're going to keep going. We have plenty of work to do, as we said, plenty of work to do. Deep appreciation. Have a wonderful and safe holiday. And we're going to wrap it up. Thank you so much.

Michelle Vilchez: Thanks, Mike.

Mike Montoya: What stayed with me from this conversation is Michelle's clarity that families don't need to be included at the end. They need to be at the table from the start. Whether it's organizing across regions, holding systems accountable for how dollars are spent, or using technology to speed up translation, Michelle reminds us that the power is in relationships and that the work gets stronger when we build it together.

Mike Montoya: Don't forget to learn about Innovate's work at webuildpower.org. Thanks for listening to the Stronger Podcast. If this conversation inspired you, we invite you to follow the show and share it with someone who's on a journey to become a happier and healthier version of themselves. Links and resources are in the show notes. See you next Thursday, 9AM eastern time. Have a great day, and stay strong. Podcaststhatmatter.org.