We are a passionate and committed group of parents who are forcing change in Oakland. We are leaders that build leaders that #REACHforMore. Our leadership ladder strengthens new parents into engaged parents into empowered parents.
Meet Our Team
Lakisha developed a formula that has guided REACH’s work since day one: Ask families questions. Listen to their aspirations. Build the solutions. Liberate our communities. This formula has produced a mix of groundbreaking programming and advocacy work over the last 6 years, including The Opportunity Ticket, which gives the most vulnerable students higher preference for enrolling in quality schools, and the Literacy for All campaign, which is about empowering the whole family around literacy to truly disrupt systemically poor literacy outcomes in underserved communities.
During the pandemic, Lakisha pioneered one of REACH’s most innovative solutions to date: The Virtual Family Hub, a one-stop shop supporting families’ economic survival and their children’s educational success. The Hub has been featured in local, national, and international media, including Today.com, TIME Magazine, CNN, KQED, BBC News, Univision, The San Francisco Chronicle, and more.
Inspired by the Hub’s success and with families returning to in-person learning, REACH created The Liberator Model to train parents and caregivers in the community to become tutors in some of the lowest-performing Oakland schools. Through this model, REACH is now supporting the training and retention of ~200 tutors, providing high-quality, high-dosage tutoring to 5,500+ students across 38 schools. A study of the model called parents an “untapped pool of talent” and noted they were as effective as teachers in tutoring readers.
Lakisha is a respected national voice on parent power and regularly consults other cities across the country interested in learning more about REACH’s transformative model. She is a Senior Fellow at The Center on Reinventing Public Education and is a regular contributor to their “People in Action” series. In 2023, Lakisha was recognized by KRON4 as the Bay Area’s Remarkable Woman.
Growing up in a privileged suburb of Los Angeles, I witnessed early on how cities segregate and miseducate based on zip code. My career has been focused on addressing the inequities and disparities I absorbed as a child - in both private and public schools. Earning my Ph.D. in Urban Education illuminated the systemic and structural inequalities built into our public education systems. And founding Urban Word NYC, a grassroots spoken word organization in New York City, the poetic license of youth of color imprinted on me the importance of elevating and centering marginalized voices.
I joined The Oakland REACH because I believe those closest to the problem are closest to the solution, and I want to ensure that we have the resources needed to dream boldly and enact the changes that are needed for Black and Brown kids and families in Oakland, and beyond.
If written on paper, my life might look like the textbook definition of someone considered “underserved.”
I am the son of two Mexican immigrants. I am gay, and I did not learn English until I was 11. However, in other ways, I am also the textbook definition of success. I was the first in my family to attend university, and the first to graduate with a 4-year degree, and my career has included work in the US Congress.
This didn’t happen because I am a gifted exception. I am who I am and have accomplished what I have because I have a network of family, teachers, and more who understand that education is the key to success.
When I was young, my parents, with what little they had, moved my siblings and me into a predominantly white school district. That made a difference, but it shouldn’t.
I joined The Oakland REACH because I am ready to fight for Black and Brown children the way the system fights for white kids. Change is possible, and Black and Brown kids deserve a reality where excellent education does not rely on the possibility that parents can move their kids to a predominantly white school district.