Alejandra is EdTrust’s first director of immigrant students policy, advocacy, and partnerships. In this new role, she will serve as EdTrust’s primary content expert on immigrant and refugee student issues and spearhead the organization’s equity-focused immigrant student policy and advocacy agenda. Additionally, Alejandra will continue to lead the National Newcomer Network, a coalition she co-founded in 2022 consisting of over 500 members and key partners in 46 states that aims to advance policy and practice solutions for newcomer students in public K-12 schools.
Prior to joining EdTrust, Alejandra led The Century Foundation’s newcomer education policy portfolio and managed the Bridges Collaborative’s school integration initiatives. She routinely published research on these issues, presented at conferences, spoke on panels and to the media, and built key partnerships across sectors and stakeholder groups, focusing primarily on impacted and proximate communities. Prior to this, she worked with the New York Immigration Coalition to shape New York City’s local efforts to support multilingual learners during COVID-19, and she directly supported immigrant families in New York City as an ImmSchools family engagement volunteer.
An inaugural Obama USA Leader, Deeper Learning Equity Fellow, and former high school teacher in Miami-Dade County, her work has been featured in several media outlets, including Chalkbeat, The 74 Million, Education Week, NPR, the Guardian, and POLITICO.
Alejandra holds degrees from Claremont McKenna College and Columbia University. She was raised in northern New Mexico and is a proud granddaughter of Mexican farmworkers.
What are people most surprised to learn about you?
I was a competitive Latin ballroom dancer in college!
What drew you to education?
In college, I was one of the few low-income Latinas at my PWI. Despite being top of my class in high school, I felt extremely unprepared and doubted my worth next to my classmates with more proximity to power and resources. I don’t want any child to feel like their identity, nor the circumstances in which they were raised, will dictate the opportunities that await them. I came into the education field to make sure every door is open wide for every child, no matter who they are or where they come from.
Why are you passionate about working at EdTrust
As an education policy advocate from a mixed-status family, I know personally that educational equity and immigrant justice are inextricably linked. The attack on immigrants’ rights is an attack on all American families, and it’s an attack on public education itself. I model my advocacy on the courageous examples of Lídia and José Lopez, Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, and so many others who paved the way for immigrant children and families like mine to earn an education and contribute to American society. It’s a privilege to continue this work from an organization that has long committed itself to fierce advocacy, bold change, and educational excellence for all children.
