Gabriel de la Cruz

Teacher-Coordinator, June Jordan School for Equity

"He helps students empower themselves and to see themselves as leaders."

Gabriel de la Cruz has a long history of working in youth development and education, working towards social justice for individuals and through systems change. He has been a teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District since 2013, and has served as the Peer Resources Teacher-Coordinator at June Jordan School for Equity since 2017. Gabe is a Bay Area native, a graduate of San Francisco State University, and achieved a Master's Degree in Urban Education and Social Justice from the University of San Francisco in 2015.

"I became a teacher to inspire and empower a generation of leaders and in return, they have inspired and empowered me to continue this work. My objective is to be the best educator I can be by always being a student. I strive to achieve this by listening and learning from my students in order to become relevant to their individual needs. As a coordinator for the Youth Leadership Institute the young leaders I worked with converted corner stores into access points for healthy food in Redwood City, leaders in Half Moon Bay and South San Francisco fought for smoke-free housing policies, and in Daly City youth developed award-winning PSA's and were able to pass a predatory payday lending policy to protect community members from falling into debt-traps. As an educator, my work has helped students to see themselves and their ancestors as contributors to their community and country. In my current work, I have the privilege of guiding students in creating a Peer to Peer Counseling program, where students will support their peers and address mental health issues at June Jordan School for Equity. Last year my students developed a Self-Love coloring book that has been used in several workshops they developed. With great patience and coaching it has been an honor to serve the youth of San Francisco Unified. My role as a guide and not a savior has allowed me to support students to see themselves as scholars through critical inquiry and continuous practice of humility and self-reflection. In my classroom, students feel a sense of community, feel challenged to think systemically about the world they live in, are given opportunities to speak truth to power, and feel safe to challenge my own thinking to see where they are coming from in the skin they are in."

Gabriel de la Cruz