The Filipinx Community College Collaborative is a statewide collaborative bringing Filipinx community college students and professionals together to advocate for visibility and representation, to build community, and to support each other's growth. The Filipinx CCC is only a year old, but in that time we supported the development of learning communities at TWO different colleges (Napa Valley College and College of San Mateo) and the establishment of an AA degree in Philippine Studies (CCSF). The students developed virtual programs for their peers across the state, including the first ever state-wide FilGrad for community college students with the Honorable Attorney General Rob Bonta as the keynote. In this workshop we will share what that journey has been - and invite you to be a part of next steps.

Dr. Ambrosio is an expert in trauma informed care practices, school climate improvement, student support, teacher coaching on social emotional learning, and parent engagement. He has provided professional development to teachers and administrators regarding trauma informed care approaches to various schools within the Rialto Unified School District. Dr. Ambrosio has educated over 20,000 students, and has trained nearly 1000 educators and parents to enhance school success for their students. 

Dr. Ambrosio was able to assist in the development of the therapeutic behavioral strategist program at the Rialto Unified School District. He provides support to students who exhibit emotional behavioral difficulties that interfere with student academic achievement and educational experience. He has also served as a member of the equity action plan team, and as a member of the LCAP committee. Dr. Ambrosio’s  dissertation focuses on the issue of trauma in schools, and utilizes critical consciousness theory, transformative learning theory, paradigm shift theory, and elements of trauma-informed care (TIC) to help address the needs of students that have experienced trauma.

Joanmarie Bañez is a third-year literature PhD student at UC San Diego who completed her BA and MA in English literary studies at Georgia State University. Her research explores adoption, kinship, and belonging in 19th-century and contemporary multi-ethnic American literature of the U.S. south.

I have taught 6th grade language arts and social studies core for 19 years and another 2 years were spent as an instructional coach. Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) has become a staple of my teaching practices since 2014. At the beginning of 2020 I concluded the VTS trainer pathway and have been able to do introductory sessions with elementary school teachers to district administration. VTS truly centers the student. Teachers serve more as facilitators and less as dispensers of knowledge. Students are able to respond in an open and accepting environment, empowering them to respond from their own experiences. VTS sets the stage for a classroom where student voices are valued and different ideas are accepted as long as the ideas are supported with evidence from the image and do not cause harm. This practice has allowed me to be more thoughtful and reflective about my own teaching and has helped me create a more inclusive classroom.

Nature Healer & Practitioner of Chinese Medicine

Janet is a health for change entrepreneur who has long-term roots as a nature and health advocate since 13 years old. For over 20 years, she has been an advocate for disadvantaged populations to increase access to public health care ranging from housing, emergency shelter services for women and children, public health policy to clinician and now as teacher and trainer for public service professionals to help them learn how to heal themselves using powerful nature-based principles of Chinese medicine. She is currently part of a Youth Wellness Movement Advisory Board. Janet loves her family, nature, dance/music and her three pets.

Born in Baltimore, MD, academic/artist/activist Marlo De Lara received a PhD in Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at University of Leeds, UK, and a Masters in Psychosocial Studies from the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies from the University of Essex, UK. Her research areas focus on personal and social histories/narratives, postcolonial/post-imperial studies, racial trauma, and migration/diaspora studies, specifically Filipinx Americans. Her creative practice works within the realms of sound performance, visual distraction, and film, aiming to blur definitions of the (un)intentional and (im)permanence. She is currently Principal Faculty in Critical Studies at AMDA College of Performing Arts. She is currently a 2021 Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, a year-long intensive leadership experience for artists, culture bearers and other arts practitioners. ILI is a collaborative program of Alternate ROOTS, First Peoples Fund, National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures (NALAC) and PA’I Foundation, with funding support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, amongst others.

Dr. Mathew Espinosa leads the Educational Equity Department at the Elk Grove Unified School District, a very large and diverse district in the Sacramento region, and serves as an advisor and instructor in the MA in Language and Literacy at Sacramento State University. He has worked as an elementary and secondary teacher, an administrator, and a professor. His current scholarship focuses on practical applications of critical theories to guide leadership decision-making for multilingual learners.

The Filipinx Community College Collaborative is a statewide collaborative bringing Filipinx community college students and professionals together to advocate for visibility and representation, to build community, and to support each other's growth. The Filipinx CCC is only a year old, but in that time we supported the development of learning communities at TWO different colleges (Napa Valley College and College of San Mateo) and the establishment of an AA degree in Philippine Studies (CCSF). The students developed virtual programs for their peers across the state, including the first ever state-wide FilGrad for community college students with the Honorable Attorney General Rob Bonta as the keynote. In this workshop we will share what that journey has been - and invite you to be a part of next steps.

Aimee Jurado is a second-year literature PhD student at UC San Diego. She specializes in 19th and 20th century American literature with a focus on Asian-American narratives.

A fourth-generation FRISCOPINO, Harvey Lozada is an educator, community worker, healer, art curator, photographer, and visual storyteller. He is a son of Filipino immigrants from the islands of Luzon and Mindanao. Harvey traces his familial roots in Yelamu, occupied Ramaytush Ohlone territory (San Francisco, CA) as far back as the 1920s. He is a humble culture bearer and descendent of traditional medicine keepers such as abularyos and manghihilots from so-called, Philippines. Harvey’s healing journey began with community activism and engaging young people in the juvenile justice system. For over 16 years, he has dedicated his life to disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline through youth leadership development and culturally responsive counseling services for children and families throughout San Francisco.

A mother of four social justice activists, Belen Magers has spent 37 years as an educator in California—27 years as an administrator—in various leadership roles and recently retired Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources in San Lorenzo Unified School District. Belen has served in state leadership roles and remain active in organizations especially focusing on racial equity and representation of and voice for our students .

Her call to education is to improve the lives of our young people, sincerely interested in their plight, successes, challenges and dilemmas as they come to our schools everyday….focusing on our new immigrants, from socio-economically deprived families, and victims of racial inequities and social injustice.

Belen’s personal racial equity purpose is founded on her lived racial experiences and on all our children that we care for in our schools and communities. She remains determined to speak and act against racial disparities in all areas of life that affect our children and their future.

Belen unabashedly always encourages and challenges all to continue to engage in conversations that promote the well-being of our children and to speak up for our children. For, if we don’t speak for our children, who will?

Frank Mata has been teaching the last 18 years, the last 15 of which have been AP English  Language & Composition, ERWC, and most recently a 12th grade course titled “ELA: Social Justice & Equity. He also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Redlands teaching a course titled “Social Justice and Education”.

Frank is involved with California Teachers Assocaitio (CTA) as a Racial Justice Advcacy trainer and has recenty been accepted to this year’s cohort for their Ethnic Early Identification & Development (EMEID) program. He is also a second-year fellow for the Institute for Teachers of Color committed to racial justice (ITOC)

Frank has two beautiful young boys (ages 9 and 5) and is a die-hard fan of the people’s team--the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A second generation Filipina-American, Wife, Mother of 4, Tracie Noriega currently serves the students of San Lorenzo Unified as the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services. In her 25th year, she has served as a teacher, site administrator, and district office administrator. Tracie is the President of FAEAC ( Filipino-American Educators Association of CA), the Equity Chair/State Committee representative for ACSA ( Association of CA School Administrators) Region 6, and a co-lead for the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Coalition.

Education became the route she chose as she was inspired by her teachers who supported her as a teen mom struggling to balance motherhood and school. She credits her Asian American professors for helping her to understand and vocalize her experiences as the daughter of Filipino immigrants. It is the tenets of Ethnic Studies that continue to keep her centered. It is the Youth that continues to inspire her, as she works to create lasting change in our educational system.

Dr. Rodriguez is a Full Professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Davis. She is also the Founding Director of the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies, the first of its kind in the University of California system and nationally focused on the Filipinx experience in the United States.Dr. Rodriguez's latest project is a social enterprise called the "Remagination Lab" which will, among other things, incubate the "School for Liberating Education" which makes Filipinx Studies accessible and available to the whole community. She is also the incoming president for FAEAC.

Megan Sapigao is a third generation biracial Filipina who was born and raised in Sacramento. Her education background is in both Ethnic and Women's Studies, with a concentration in Asian American communities. She is a co-founder and now Co-Executive Director of the Sacramento A/PI Regional Network, recently incorporated as the Asian American Liberation Network, a coalition of regional community-based organizations and leaders serving the AA/PI community through advocacy, education, activism and direct service. Her main work includes advancing equity, supporting healing and solidarity, and building collective power around safety, education, and health in her A/PI community.

In addition to this work, Megan serves as a Board Director for the Pacific Rim Heritage Foundation (PRHF), is the immediate past President of the Philippine National Day Association (PNDA), has helped to relaunch the Sacramento Filipino Political Action Committee, and has co-chaired the Ethnic Studies Now initiative in the Elk Grove Unified School District.

Dr. Amanda Solomon Amorao is an Assistant Teaching Professor and Director of the Dimensions of Culture Program at UC San Diego. Her research and teaching interests include antiracist and decolonial pedagogies, U.S. multi-ethnic literature, and Asian American cultural studies.

Cyndi Abundabar Ting was born in Oakland, CA. to immigrant parents, Vicente Abundabar Jr (Goa, Bicol, Philippines) & Rosalinda C. Abundabar (Taal, Batanagas, Philippines). Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 80s, Cyndi learned of her Filipino heritage from fiestas and social gatherings at church and Filipino American organizations.

In high school, Cyndi met Mel Orpilla, former president of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Vallejo. Through his presentation "No History, No Self. Know History, Know self." at her high school Filipino club, Cyndi was inspired to learn more about our Filipino American history. Her education and activism continued at the California State University, Chico. She took Asian American studies classes and active roles in the Filipino American Student Organization (FASO) and Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Sorority, Inc.

Cyndi recently earned her Master of Science in Special Education from CSU Long Beach. She has been in the Special Education field since 2004, starting as as an instructional aide. Since then she has served as a Mod-Severe Special Education Teacher, Autism Specialist, and Program Coordinator. Currently, she serves as a Resource teacher in High School Math and RSP dept chair.

When not teaching, she is the faculty advisor to her high school's Filipino Club, Polynesian Club, Friday Night Live, and OC Human Relations Bridges program. Cyndi also spends time traveling with her family, exploring new cuisines, and creating paper crafts.

Dr. Michael Joseph Viola is Associate Professor at Saint Mary’s College of California in the Justice, Community & Leadership (JCL) program, affiliate faculty in the Ethnic Studies program, and Director of Faculty Development. Dr. Viola received his doctorate degree in education with an emphasis in urban schooling from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As an educator and scholar, Dr. Viola has dedicated his professional life to centering the experiences of historically marginalized, extracted, and oppressed communities in this country, a commitment connected to his family’s history as immigrants.

Dr. Viola’s research contributes to the interdisciplinary fields of critical educational studies; ethnic studies; decolonial theory; and critical globalization studies. His scholarship has been published in such journals as Critical Ethnic Studies; Race, Ethnicity and Education; the Journal of Asian American Studies; Educational Philosophy and Theory; the Journal of Critical Educational Policy Studies, and Kritika Kultura. His co-edited book on global hip-hop titled, Hip-Hop(e): The Cultural Practice and Critical Pedagogy of International Hip-Hop (Peter Lang) received the 2014 Critics’ Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association. He is a governing council member of the Critical Filipino/x/a Studies Collective (CFSC).