Staff
Meet our Executive Director LaShawn Routé Chatmon, and the rest of the National Equity Project staff.Leadership Team LaShawn Routé Chatmon, Executive Director
Prior to becoming Executive Director of the National Equity Project (then BayCES) in July 2007, LaShawn served as the Director of our Oakland High School Redesign Initiative for seven years. A California native and recipient of public school education, LaShawn earned her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and her Masters in teaching from Brown University. With ten years of teaching experience, LaShawn has taught American and World History, Economics and African American and Ethnic Studies, most recently as a faculty member at Berkeley High School. While at Berkeley High, LaShawn served with Dr. Pedro Noguera as Co-Director of the Diversity Project, a research and education reform effort in collaboration with the University of California at Berkeley. As BayCES' Executive Director, LaShawn leads our strategic planning and partnership efforts. She is married with three children, and she and her family reside in Oakland, CA.
 Brett Bradshaw, Project Director, Leading for Equity Programs
Brett joined the National Equity Project as our Leading for Equity Project Director in January 2010. He is responsible for program expansion planning, communications, and knowledge management, and will contribute to program development, fundraising, and other areas. Previously, Brett was Senior Director of Strategic Communications at the Coalition of Essential Schools where he developed and implemented its national communications and advocacy agenda. Previously, he taught elementary school in Los Angeles and was a member of the founding leadership team of a small, autonomous high school in Austin, Texas. He holds a M.A. in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School at the University of Texas.
 Victor Cary, Senior Director
Victor has worked in education for over 35 years, starting as a high school teacher in Richmond, CA. Victor has worked on several reform initiatives, particularly in math and science, serving as Director of both the California Alliance for Mathematics and Science (CAMS) Initiative and the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) Center at UC Berkeley. Since joining the National Equity Project in 2000, Victor has served as Associate Director, Director for Community Partnerships, and currently Program Director with lead responsibility for Berkeley High School and District, providing strategic school coaching and project management to implement a small schools strategy. Victor received his B.A. and Teaching Secondary Credential from UC Berkeley, and M.A. in Education from Stanford University.
 Stephen Chang, Senior Associate
Before joining the National Equity Project in 2006, Stephen was a school counselor at Berkeley High School, a Project partner school, where he served as head counselor and the counselor for three of the four small schools within Berkeley High: Communications Arts and Sciences (CAS), Arts and Humanities Academy (AHA), and School for Social Justice and Ecology (SSJE). In addition to school coaching, Stephen conducts workshops and provides support in school design, such as master schedule building and bell schedule design. Stephen earned his B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University and his M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Pennsylvania State University. Before entering education, he was a manager and small business owner in the Health and Wellness industry.
 Julia Chih, Director of Finance and Operations
Julia joined the National Equity Project in 2005 as part of the Oakland Unified School District Expect Success Redesign Team. Prior to joining BayCES, Julia worked in the California Governor's Office of Education to develop a $30 million program to increase access to challenging coursework for all high school students. She holds a B.A. in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley and an M.A. in Public Affairs and Urban and Regional Planning from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. In her current role, Julia is responsible for strategic planning, finances and operations.
 Lisa Lasky, Senior Director
Lisa has worked in education for over 20 years as a teacher, leader, school and district coach. Before joining the National Equity Project in 1995, Lisa worked with Ted Sizer and the staff of the national office of the Coalition of Essential Schools, supporting schools across the country and planning professional development. She has served in many roles here, including Director of the School Grants Program and Deputy Director. She holds a B.A. in Sociology and English from the State University of New York, College at Cortland and an M.A. in Education from UC Berkeley.
 Chinyelu Martin, Senior Director
Chin has been consulting and redesigning public schools for over ten years. Chin came to the National Equity Project in 2002 after earning an M.A. in Education at Emory University. He drew inspiration for his thesis at Emory, which called for creating educational environments that develop job-related skills, from his years managing and redesigning two YouthBuild Inc. charter schools in Providence and Boston. Chin earned his Bachelor's degree from Emory University in Atlanta, GA, majoring in Elementary Education, before moving on to Boston to teach math and science for a YouthBuild Boston charter school for two years.
 Christopher Perrius, Director of Development and Communications
Chris began his fundraising and communications career when he was a Ph.D. student in English at the University of Chicago, where he was also Director of Communications for the Humanities Division and Associate Director of the Cultural Policy Center. Before joining the National Equity Project in 2007, Chris helped raise funds and communicate results to the public for the Des Moines Art Center, the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Peninsula in East Palo Alto, and Bay Fund in San Francisco.  Hugh Vasquez, Senior Associate
Hugh Vasquez joined the National Equity Project as a Senior Associate in January 2010 with responsibility for developing and expanding the leadership for equity work throughout the country. He was most recently the Executive Director of the San Francisco Education Fund, a non-profit working to bring educational equity to public schools. Hugh is a partner with the Center for Diversity Leadership and the founder of the Todos Institute in Oakland, whose mission is to help individuals and groups heal from the effects of oppression, build cross-cultural alliances, and create environments where youths and adults from all cultures are honored, valued, and respected. Hugh has worked with hundreds of organizations to establish diversity initiatives and has provided training to thousands of individuals. He is a presenter with Speak Out, a national organization providing top speakers on social justice topics. Hugh is a primary cast member in the award-winning film The Color of Fear and appeared with the rest of the cast on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Hugh is also the lead facilitator in the film Skin Deep, a documentary on race relations with college students. He has co-authored the books No Boundaries: Unlearning oppression and Building Multicultural Alliances and Making Allies Making Friends: A Curriculum For Middle Schools, as well as published various articles on strengthening cultural roots and eliminating privileged systems. Hugh has a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Coaches
 Jamie Almanzán, Coach
Jamie joined BayCES in 2008. He most recently held the position of Director of Learning and Teaching at Pacific Educational Group in San Francisco. Jamie is a skilled facilitator, teacher, curriculum developer and leadership coach. He has focused his career on working with school and district teams to create more equitable learning environments incorporating observation, collaboration, and changing instruction to best meet the needs of underserved populations, particularly African American and Latino students. For a number of years Jamie has been involved in systemic school reform initiatives and has been responsible for the development and facilitation of leadership seminars for state, regional and district teams across the country.
 Alicia Bowman, Coach
Alicia has over 14 years of education experience in Oakland and San Leandro, CA. She holds a B.A. from Mills College and an M.A. from Saint Mary's College of California. As an educator she has been a classroom teacher, instructional coach, principal and staff developer. She has done research work with the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative and the Western Assessment Collaborative as a Lead Principal. She has also been a member of Creating Equitable Bay Area Schools, a group of administrators working on issues of racial equity in our schools. Alicia cares deeply about school reform and is dedicated to finding ways to improve student achievement.
 Colm Davis, Senior Coach
Prior to joining the National Equity Project in 2004, Colm worked as the Fellow Advisor for the New York City Teaching Fellows, developing curricula for the Fellows program and teaching a graduate course on curriculum planning and teaching practice. Colm taught History and English for seven years at Satellite High School in New York City. Colm received his B.A. from Carleton College and his M.A. in English Education from New York University.
 Tamara Dukes, Coach
Tamara joined the National Equity Project in 2009 and works primarily with our District and Organizational Development team. She has over 12 years of experience in the fields of education and public health, and was most recently the Director of Prevention for Youth ALIVE! in Oakland, CA. Tamara was one of the founding teachers at Life Academy for Health and Bioscience, a Project partner high school in Oakland Unified School District, where she taught Spanish for Native Speakers and deepened her commitment to equity-centered pedagogy and leadership. Tamara earned her B.A. from Duke University, and holds an M.A. in Spanish from Middlebury College and an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from UC Davis.
 Jessica Gammell, Coach
Jessica joined the National Equity Project staff in 2008 after teaching, coaching, and leading in Bay Area public schools for 17 years. A former math teacher at Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo and Leadership High School in San Francisco, Jessica deepened her interest in the impact of school systems on student success as Dean of Students at LHS. She has also led professional development in data-based inquiry and Critical Friends Groups with the San Francisco Coalition of Essential Small Schools. Jessica earned her B.A. in Mathematics from UC Santa Barbara and her teaching credential from CSU Hayward.
Heidi Gill, Manager of Professional Learning Community
Heidi re-joined the National Equity Project staff in 2009 after having worked as coach with us in the past. Most recently Heidi was a school coach in Emery Unified School District supporting teacher and leader professional development.  Zaretta Hammond, Instructional Practice Development Manager
Zaretta Hammond returned to the National Equity Project in 2008, having previously worked here as our professional development specialist. She has provided professional development to hundreds of educators on improving instruction to accelerate learning to close the achievement gap for African American and Latino students. Before returning to the Project , Zaretta was the CEO of Community Solutions Network, Inc., where she also directed the organization's Community Literacy Initiative, which trained volunteer reading tutors. Her other areas of expertise include qualitative evaluation of school reform initiatives, teacher change initiatives, and collaborative partnerships. Zaretta has taught writing at the high school and community college levels. She holds an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction in secondary English Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a B.A. from New York University in English Literature.
 Tom Malarkey, Impact 2012 Project Director
Tom has worked with the National Equity Project since 1996 and specializes in equity-centered inquiry practice with teachers, teams, and whole schools. For the last twenty years, he has focused his work on urban schools, teachers, and students. He has taught high school English and first grade, and was the director of the Summerbridge Program in San Francisco, an academic enrichment program for middle school students. Tom holds an M.A. in international development education from Stanford University and is currently finishing his Ph.D. in Education at UC Berkeley, focusing on the dynamics of collaborative teacher inquiry and its relationship to equity and urban school change. Tom has been leading our Impact 2012 Partnerships for Learning inquiry program.
 Shane Safir, Coach
Shane Safir joined the National Equity Project in July 2008. Prior to that, Shane worked as a school coach with Stanford's School Redesign Network where she led coaching efforts with June Jordan School for Equity and Envision public high schools in Oakland and Hayward. Shane was also the founder and co-principal of the June Jordan School for Equity. A former teacher at Life Academy in Oakland and Balboa High School in San Francisco, she is passionate about critical pedagogy and is working on a book about best instructional practices in small schools.
 Mark Salinas, Senior Coach
Mark has worked as a National Equity Project coach since 2002. Born and raised in San Francisco, Mark is a product of San Francisco public schools. He received his B.A. from San Francisco State University in African American Studies, as well as his Teaching Credential. Prior to working at the Project, Mark directed and taught summer intervention programs for middle school students in New Orleans and San Rafael. He also taught high school Social Studies and Academic Literacy in both San Francisco and Hawaii. Mark has extensive experience coordinating interdisciplinary teacher teams, student activities, and youth leadership development. Mark is a proud parent of a two young boys, and a self-described "family guy".
 Phil Tucher, Coach
Phil joined the National Equity Project in July 2008. Phil has worked as a math educator for more than 20 years and most recently held positions in the San Lorenzo and Emery Unified School Districts as well as Mills College and as an Independent Educational Consultant. Phil has supported and coached many K-12 teachers, administrators and teams in a wide variety of contexts including math coach, site and district administrator, project director, program master teacher, department head and colleague.
 Ken Yale, Senior Coach
Ken has been a Bay Area educator for over twenty years and a school coach at the National Equity Project since 2003. He has worked as a teacher and administrator at all levels from kindergarten through university, including 11 years as a high school principal and several years as the Assistant Director of the Service-Learning Research & Development Center at the Graduate School of Education, UC Berkeley. Ken has particular expertise in youth leadership development and alternative instructional strategies, including experiential learning, project-based learning, and multiple intelligences approaches. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University, an M.A. in Educational Administration from St. Mary's College, and California K-12 teaching and administrative credentials.
Administrative and Program Support Staff  Sara Brown, Marketing and Outreach Manager
Prior to joining the National Equity Project in 2006, Sara worked in fundraising for a social service agency in Connecticut. She has a deep commitment to racial and social justice and enjoys supporting the Project's work for educational equity. She manages our marketing, partnering, and contracting processes. Sara holds B.A. in American Studies from Trinity College.
 Fenny Widagdo, Controller
Fenny joined the National Equity Project in 2004 as part of our Finance team. As Controller, Fenny maintains financial records. Previously Fenny worked at Zeum, a non-profit multimedia arts and technology museum in San Francisco.
 Edwina Williams, Program Associate
Edwina joined the National Equity Project in 2009 and provides administrative support to school and district programs. She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz and has most recently held positions at Team-Up for Youth, Engaging Education Resource Center, and the Educational Partnership Program.
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