Meet Our New Director of Educational Equity and our New Vice President of Policy and Program

Catalyst California is excited to share some news about members of our team taking on new leadership positions within our organization. Vickie Ramos Harris, who has led our Educational Equity team since 2019, is taking on a new role as Vice President of Policy and Programs. Jessenia Reyes, who has supported Vickie as Associate Director of Educational Equity of K-12 Policy, will now be leading the team as its Director.

Vickie brought a fierce determination to her tenure on the Ed Equity team, working tirelessly to make our state's early childhood and K-12 education systems more equitable. On her watch, through advocacy with community partners, California invested $4.1 billion in community schools, increased support for dual language learners, took initial steps to reform how child care providers are compensated, and committed to building a whole child equity tool that will help direct early childhood resources to children furthest from opportunity.

In her new role, Vickie will bring her leadership to a broader range of Catalyst California's work, including overseeing statewide alliances and legislative advocacy, leading our work on future ballot measures, and supporting Jessenia and the rest of the Educational Equity team as they enter this new phase.

Jessenia has led with passion, care, and diligence on the Educational Equity team and has been a strong voice for bringing greater alignment between California’s early childhood and K-12 systems. In Jessenia’s work alongside community, we’ve seen important equity wins including securing permanent funding for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s groundbreaking Student Equity Need Index at $700 million per year and working with community leaders across the state to help shape implementation of community schools.

Jessenia’s incredible leadership will be critical in the next phase of the work as we look to advance racial justice through efforts to fully and equitably fund our birth to 12th grade (B12) system, support the B12 workforce, build racially-just, child-centered schools and lead with whole child approaches that support children and families to thrive.

Catalyst California is very lucky to have advocates of Vickie and Jessenia's caliber and we're excited to see everything they'll accomplish in their new roles!