Partnership Director
Francesca began her career teaching adults to ride bicycles in New York City public parks. Inspired by the experience of working with adult learners, she gained her TESOL certification and taught English to adults in community centers, labor unions, and sites of incarceration. Francesca went on to gain her MA in Language and Literacy at the City College of New York; a master’s program born out of the civil rights movement. There, she taught English Composition to linguistically diverse freshmen. Simultaneously, Francesca worked for the NYC Department of Education as a School Capacity Manager, gaining a deep understanding of large-scale school systems. She partnered with the administration of over 300 schools in the Bronx and Staten Island to equitably implement wellness programs with inclusive curriculum in physical education and comprehensive sexual health education.
In her experiences as a public-school student, a teacher in traditional and non-traditional settings, and working within the central offices of the largest and most segregated school system in the country, she has observed racial inequity to be the most pervasive constant. Francesca is committed to the goal of schools being sites of liberation, not oppression. A firm believer in multiracial coalition building for social change, she is grateful to join EOS where conversations of racial equity are not anecdotal, but central to the mission and every piece of the work.
Francesca is people-person, a devoted auntie, an instructor at the University of Washington, a member of Showing up for Racial Justice, a Dolly Parton fan, and a proud Garfield Bulldog.
