Karen Lobos, Education Equity Champion
“Our job as educators is to partner with students and their families in their academic journeys. To do this well we need to build trust and we need to center the student and family experience — from the moment they walk through our busses and school doors to their graduation and post graduation.” — Karen Lobos (she/her)
Emergent strategist and facilitator extraordinaire, adrienne maree brown reminds us that we move at the speed of trust. Karen Lobos (she/her), Executive Director at Rainier Prep, knows this well. She believes fostering a strong sense of connection between families, communities, and schools is paramount to students’ success. Furthermore, Karen understands these connections, which require deep trust, can only be developed through an unwavering commitment to equity, self-awareness, accountability, and authentic relationship-building. In this interview, Karen shares with us a variety of practices that have helped her to build trust with the communities she serves through her role at Rainier Prep.
Some of the questions have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q1: At this moment, what does it mean to be a changemaker?
A1: First, I want to speak to the change that I want to see in my community: I dream of an equitable world where students are able to get a quality education. The quality of a student’s education should not be dependent on their zip code or the resources available to their family. It is why I do the work that I do. All people deserve access to basic needs (food, housing, healthcare, education) and live a healthy and thriving life. This should include a good living wage and the right to take days off work, paid time off.
At this moment, as the pandemic continues to impact our communities, being a changemaker is defined by our choosing to follow public health guidelines — wearing a mask, standing six feet apart from each other, avoiding travel, and staying at home as much as we can.
During this pandemic, we have seen a lack of resources for historically underserved communities. To be a changemaker is to also address these systemic issues and make sure everyone is cared for equitably.
Q2: What does it mean to build trust with communities? What advice do you have for schools and educators to build trust with their communities?
A2: Communities of color have every right to be mistrustful of formal institutions and systems. Historically and in the present, our communities have been marginalized and discriminated against, hurt, and killed by systemic racism that is embedded across most institutions in the U.S. So, to be able to build trust with the communities we serve, as educators we need to:
- Know and acknowledge our positionality (privileges, race/ethnicity, etc.)
- Educate ourselves on the history of the location we’re teaching.
- Educate ourselves on the history and experiences of the communities the students we’re teaching.
- Be good active listeners.
- When we say we are going to do something, we follow through and do it.
- Meet students and families wherever they’re at without judgment.
- Be honest.
- Be willing to have difficult and uncomfortable conversations.
- We’ll know we’re doing it right when students and families FEEL & KNOW they can count on us.
Q3: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your work so far? What advice do you have for other changemakers working in schools and the education field?
A3: Our job as educators is to partner with students and their families in their academic journeys. To do this well we need to build trust and we need to center the student and family experience — from the moment they walk through our busses and school doors to their graduation and post graduation. We need to center students first and always and we need to do this especially for our students furthest from educational justice.
Q4: What do we need to build a world of belonging?
A4: We need to start with trust. I believe that trust builds room for healing, growth, and so much more. At my school, Rainier Prep, parents are trusting us with their students’ education and school life. But in order to have this kind of trust, you have to be trustworthy and accountable to the parents to have this kind of relationship with families.
I’ve been working with families who have been impacted by COVID-19 and often ask them what they need. I help schedule drop-offs for them if they are unable to get the things they need and I share any resources I’m aware of with them. I think that it is really important that we offer ourselves as resources as an act of mutual aid.
Extending yourself as a resource for someone can mean the world to them. If you see someone in need and you are able to help by providing information on where they can get help or how to get help, do tell them and let them know. Everyone can be a resource to each other and help one another even in the smallest ways.
About Karen Lobos
Karen Lobos is a first-generation college graduate, daughter of Latino immigrants, and an alumna of the Rainier Scholars program. Her experiences have incited a passion for serving immigrant and marginalized communities to increase educational outcomes for low-income students of color. Currently, she serves as the Executive Director at Rainier Prep.
This series is part of our ongoing effort to amplify stories from We the Changemakers. Karen was nominated as a Changemaker by Rainier Scholars.
