Pecolia Manigo

Peer Leader, Visitacion Valley Middle School

"Pecolia is a life-long activist, especially for children and families fighting for equitable education. Pecolia’s activism began at age 11, when her family became homeless. It was this that sparked her passion to fight for justice. From advocating for more homeless shelters under Mayor Frank Jordan to joining mentor Ilalo Kalika in understanding other forms of expression through poetry, Pecolia began a life-long journey to becoming an organizer. She has worked with several organizations over the years, including Third Eye Movement, Schools Not Jails, Jamestown Community Center and YMCA of San Francisco, Coleman Advocates, and now the Parent Leadership Action Network."

Pecolia Manigo is an organizer and authentic leader; but most importantly a black mother. Through her journey as a native San Franciscan and Oakland resident, she has developed a keen awareness on a variety of subject matters, issues and world affairs. As a youth, she became a ChangeMaker through Peer Resources Program. She was core member of Third Eye Movement who organized youth into the No On Prop 21 Campaign. By the time she turned 20, Pecolia had participated in 4 major campaigns in the Bay Area, conducted over 100 trainings and had organized thousands of youth, community members into taking action to improve the conditions of working class folks in San Francisco. From 2007 until 2013, Pecolia worked at Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth as Youth Director of Youth Making A Change and Campaign Organizer. For the past year, she has worked for Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network (PLAN). Pecolia continues to focus on strengthening organizing and membership development of low-income communities of color. She advances a theory of change that socio-economic status is an asset to developing strong platforms for pushing back against inequitable, racial tracking in low performing schools in high poverty neighborhoods.

"I spend my daily life being a black mother. I took the biggest step of my life to become an Executive Director of a local nonprofit- Bay Area PLAN. I did this because I felt the immense need to demonstrate that a mother who went through welfare, who took over 13 years to achieve an Associate’s degree, who had three children by three different fathers was highly capable and intelligent enough to run a nonprofit and support other parents to be bold and courageous. So, when folks ask me what kind of impact I want to have in the world, it is quite simple--I just want to be treated fairly.

"I work everyday to achieve a world that truly appreciates the contributions of all Black women and a world where Black women are healthy mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally; a world where black mothers’ life choices are celebrated and respected; a world where single mothers are as respected as married or divorced mothers; a world where black children’s achievements are honored just as much as their peers and where they are encouraged to celebrate the contributions of their mothers everyday; a world where the media celebrates the ways that all Black women show up and discontinues fetishizing Black women's bodies; a world where powerful institutions shift their focus from control to serving those in need of support; a world where Black women see each other, and uplift each other’s journeys. "

Pecolia Manigo