SAUSD's Amplifying Leadership Podcast

12. Roots of Resilience: Strengthening Families and Communities, Part 2

• Bianca Barquin • Season 1 • Episode 12

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In part two of our conversation with SAUSD's FACE team, we unlock the treasure trove of cultural wealth and knowledge lying in the heart of our communities with Lisa Solomon and Elisa Briseño-Sandoval, who illuminate the paths to asset-based community engagement in education. This heartfelt conversation celebrates a collective endeavor towards inclusive school-community partnerships, where the richness of family elements is interwoven into student-focused events. You'll be inspired by stories of communities coming together, embracing equity, and empowering one another to lead in the technological and educational frontier looming ahead.

Feel the warmth of trust-building as we spotlight the FACE team's dedication to establishing genuine connections with families through two-way communication and open-door policies. These aren't mere strategies; they're invitations to a shared journey of support, growth, and transformation. Community events become more than just gatherings—they're the bedrock for social connection and empowerment, as parents step into the role of workshop leaders and ambassadors. Join us to hear how Lisa Solomon's and Elisa Briseño-Sandoval's personal tales of mentorship and relentless pursuit of learning craft the narrative of an education that's truly by and for the community.

Visit us at our Buzzsprout site for more ways to listen, links to our social media sites and any referenced materials, and complete transcripts of our full-length episodes: https://bit.ly/SAUSDAmplifyingLeadership

Lisa Solomon:

Welcome back, Amplifiers, to the second part of our inspiring conversation with Lisa Solomon and Elisa

Elisa Briseño-Sandoval:

Briseño-Sandoval. We hope you enjoy the conclusion of this insightful dialogue.

Bianca Barquin:

Elisa, can you describe the outreach and asset building efforts and their outcomes?

Elisa Briseño-Sandoval:

So, on our end, in terms of really building off of everything that everyone has in terms of experience and knowledge, which is really looking at assets and what people bring to the table, Lisa has mentioned some of the efforts that we're doing, is doing some of the capacity building around cultural wealth, around funds of knowledge, around asset-based thinking, right, and how do we reframe our thinking when we're thinking about our families, our students, and our community, and that has been something that, on our end, we've started leading already with our liaisons this year, but in the upcoming months, what we're looking at doing with these workshops is really starting to share that out to the larger community, with our principals, with our staff, with our families, so that they also understand the framework that we're working from and that they understand that really it is about them, it's about our greater community coming back together for our families and our students.

Elisa Briseño-Sandoval:

And some of the outreach efforts that we're leading as well, you know, in terms of family and community engagement, is really happening organically, I feel. Every single week, it felt since probably October, we've been having some sort of partnership with another department in terms of an effort that they're doing to engage families. This last weekend we just did the book literacy fair, Battle of the Books, and they brought in a family component. They did a family resource fair to accompany what they've traditionally just done for students, which is beautiful, you know. And we are getting all these different opportunities to just partner with different departments and bring in that angle, that lens of like family engagement and involvement and how we can kind of rethink a little bit how we've done school traditionally and just involving the student and amplify that to including our families and have them be a part of the educational journey right alongside their students.

Bianca Barquin:

You know what? I 100% agree with that and what it makes me think about is the conversation you and I just had around the Santa Ana partnership. So remember, Lisa, I called you and I said, oh my gosh, one of the domains is actually family and community engagement. It's so important for you to be at the table so we know what our next steps are, so we can strengthen our system. So you're exactly right, there's integration everywhere.

Lisa Solomon:

And it goes back to, Bianca, what we said earlier everyone is Family and Community Engagement. It's not just the FACE liaison, it's everyone, from the office staff to the entire Teaching and Learning Department, to EL, Bilingual, to Support Services. All of us are Family and Community Engagement. It's not just one person, it's not just one department, it's all of us. And that's what we've seen a big change. We've all been working together and we've even developed a plan and we started as part of our vision where we're looking at trainings that we're offering for parents, with the Graduate Profile being our north star. Designing trainings that go with each of the different areas of the Graduate Profile. But then, beyond that, working with Diana Torres, EL D, Bilingual, what staff development do we need that goes under each of the specific areas of the Graduate Profile, so then we're all supporting Family and Community Engagement and we're all supporting students' success to meeting that goal of the Graduate Profile and our students being as successful as possible.

Bianca Barquin:

I love it. So let's expand a little bit more on vision, right? So moving forward, Lisa, what is your vision for Family and Community Engagement in SAUSD, and how do you see the FACE team evolving to meet future challenges? I mean, I think of everything from the work we're doing around immersive technology, anything right, everything comes to mind. You are exactly right: FACE, Family and Community Engagement, is a part of it all.

Lisa Solomon:

Well, I think for our vision, it's aligned with the District's vision. It's going back to our voices being heard. Are we being inclusive, making sure everyone has a seat at the table? Are we being equitable and are we really empowering our parents? That's what it's based on. But our vision is also how are we helping to make our students more successful, our families more successful in our community? I mean, students are always at the center of it and by us kind of being the hub of our community not FACE, but just our schools being the hub of the community, we're really going to be able to get our parents and our students ready for what's to come in the future. We have to be future thinking.

Lisa Solomon:

So we've been doing workshops on AI, virtual reality, changes in how we're teaching through Project Lead the Way. That's one of the examples. We've been offering trainings to parents so that they can see the future of education, they can see their role and they can also see what they can do to help better prepare our kids and support our kids, our schools, and our community. So they're at the cutting edge as well as we are. If we're learning about AI, then we right away think okay, what can I do to make sure that parents know about this, they know how they can support, they know how they can use it themselves.

Lisa Solomon:

So our parents have been excited to be participants in all these trainings. I mean, imagine traveling to another country using virtual reality or going to visit the White House and seeing that, oh wow, they have gold curtains at the White House. I have gold curtains too. Making connections to what they're learning about. And then, through Project Lead the Way, just learning how our students are learning in the classroom and knowing that we're making learning more engaging, we're making it fun, we're making it exciting. So then our kids are going to hopefully be motivated and we're connecting it to what's coming in the future, we're connecting it to their careers, we're connecting it to what we see happening, and our kids aren't going to be left behind, and neither are our families through the work that we're doing.

Bianca Barquin:

What's interesting is, I spent my morning in Strategic Foresight training, and that's exactly what we were thinking about, and I really even want our parents to be able to engage in that process using foresight tools in a more formalized way, because I think it will do exactly that. It's going to set up not only our students, not only our families, but our entire community for success, right? So I agree with that, and I know, Elisa, you were going to add something.

Elisa Briseño-Sandoval:

Yeah, I think one of the most powerful things you know really having Lisa come in and give us her vision is we're really walking with our families. And I have a wonderful example that actually just happened this morning at Budget Town Hall. I ran into one of our moms that has been very actively involved with us, and she told me, I'm like so excited to be here this morning, you know, and I was like, oh really, well, we're excited to have you here. She's like, no, you don't understand.

Elisa Briseño-Sandoval:

Like I got ready like as if I'm going to church on Sunday, like this is how important this is to me. I want to be here, I want to be engaged, I want to learn about what the District is doing. I am bringing like my Sunday best and this to me, this work, I'm so proud of it. She's like, and I want other families to understand how important this is. And she's like, I went to a workshop last night and she's like, I was just so excited to see new faces. I was excited to see that new families are now participating in workshops. And when she said that it just was beautiful and I was just so excited because that's exactly how we want our families to feel.

Bianca Barquin:

You're exactly right. Thank you for sharing that. That was powerful. Okay, question for you, Lisa. How will the FACE team continue to foster trusting relationships and open communication among family, schools, and community partners?

Lisa Solomon:

I think we're going to continue the work that we've been doing, Bianca, and some of those things that we've done is making sure that we have regular communication with our families, that we're outreaching not just to give information but as a way to be able to interact with our families, where it's a two-way communication. Things like having open- door policies within our wellness centers, establishing warm environments within the schools, greeting in front of the school every day so parents know that we're accessible. Those are the things that help us to continue to build connections and relationships with our families. On top of it, continuing to provide resources and supports that our families need, being responsive and being responsive in a timely manner. We've had so many families that have gone through different crises and they want, they need support, they need help. It's making sure that we're connecting them to the resource and then that we're also following up that they know that we are there for them. On top of it, it's about making connections with people. I'm going to say building relationships will always be number one, because we do it in so many different ways.

Lisa Solomon:

We host community events and they may be an informational fair, but it ends up turning into like a party, like a quinceañera and everyone's dancing and having fun, but it's our way of connecting, where a family will spend four hours with us at a community fair. It's not just information being handed out. It's about the connections we're making. We're all dancing together, we're laughing together, we're breaking bread together. Our FACE liaisons do special things with families where they might have like clothes giveaways, like, or uniform exchanges. We also do community hours where they're painting. They're painting together, all of us with our assets, whatever we bring to the table. I may only be able to draw a stick figure, but by the end I have this beautiful painting because we worked on it together. We have parent-led workshops where families will be learning how to crochet, and it turns into like a social gathering where we're talking about different issues we've dealt with in our lives. We bring in a mental health support. Those are the ways that we're going to continue to build those relationships with our families, to connect with them.

Lisa Solomon:

It's about taking time for people and listening to people, slowing it down, because sometimes we are a little bit crazy busy, all of us, and we need to slow down and make sure that we're being there for our families, that we're working together to support them. Then I think, too, working with other people, knowing that I'm not the only person that's here to help and serve and work with our families. We're working with other departments. We work with Support Services, Dave Ritchie, to help improve attendance. Everyone's working together and that's what it's about. We know who to go to and in Santa Ana we have so many resources. It's making sure that our families know how to connect with them.

Lisa Solomon:

Then, I think, too, going back to making sure we're being inclusive, welcoming, everyone has a sense of belonging, and I think, too, through the partnerships that we've had, we've been able to bring in different community partners that come in to meet a need, but they've also been able to connect with our families and help in additional ways. We have organizations that do diaper distributions, food distributions, but then, on top of it, they offer medical services, they offer financial supports for funerals. We've been able to connect with partners in different ways where we're kind of helping each other. And I hope that we continue to do that work to foster the relationships. It's about taking time with people, listening to them and then really helping to be responsive to their needs. It doesn't mean I'm fixing every single problem. Sometimes people just need someone to listen to, and when we sit down and we listen, that's where we gain insight into what we need to do next, how we need to support our families.

Bianca Barquin:

The recurring theme I keep hearing, which is the name of your future podcast Better Together, right? Because we can't do this work alone. So, Lisa, I know you touched on this a little bit: what are your long-term goals for the FACE team and how do you plan to achieve them? So, maybe some things that we haven't discussed so far.

Lisa Solomon:

Of course, as I had stated earlier, we're going to continue to work on building those trusting relationships that we just talked about. But I think the other thing is we really want to get to a place where we have parent-led workshops, where they're leading and driving all the work that we're doing, so parents' voices are being heard, that we're co-designing initiatives, programs. Even as we're looking at this parent education plan, we're planning on bringing parents in to help us design: what is a world-ready scholar, what would you, as a parent, need to be able to support your child? So we want to make sure that we're continuing that, but then having the parents lead the workshops. We're hoping to develop a parent ambassador program and we want it to be like Disney. So we'd like to have lanyards with pins that parents earn. Maybe that'll lead up to like medals and certificates.

Lisa Solomon:

That's one of our long-term goals. It's one of the pie in the sky dreams where we have parents who become the ambassadors for each school site, where they're sharing the information, they're leading the workshops, they're sharing their experiences plus knowledge that other parents need. And then I think one of the other long-term goals that we have is improving our communication channels, continuing to work on it and we've been working on it, definitely getting streamlining it, but we want to make it even better so not one parent misses out on information that would be pertinent to them that will be available for them. And then the last goal is to make sure that our entire system knows the important role they play in family and community engagement. That means working with principals, office managers, custodians. We all play a role in family and community engagement and we need each and every person to make sure that our students are successful and that our families are strong and that we will be successful as a community, once again, better together. So we've got to bring everyone together.

Bianca Barquin:

Oh my gosh, I can see all of this going in so many different directions from, eventually your podcast gets to a point where parents are actually leading the podcast. How amazing would that be? I can see in the future not just parent-led workshops individually, right, but what if it's a parent co-designed conference for parents, that every workshop is led by a parent? I think that would be amazing, so I'm excited. Before we wrap up, I want to touch upon the significant efforts in areas like the Santa Ana Early Learning Initiative and the integration of arts into our programs, or into your programs specifically. Elisa, can you give us some insight into these initiatives?

Elisa Briseño-Sandoval:

Yes, definitely. so So the work that we've been really co-leading with the Santa Ana Learning Initiative has been so powerful. We have over 200 parents that come to these meetings on a monthly basis. I mean 200 parents at the Delhi Center. Just so much excitement and energy and motivation as soon as you walk into the room where we have those meetings.

Elisa Briseño-Sandoval:

And a lot of that work is having our parents lead projects, spark projects out in the community, where they are now the ones that are talking to other families and the community, the greater community in terms to how do we support our youngest learners, how do we more effectively engage our future students that are not in the system yet? What types of things can they be doing at home, such as reading or learning activities with things that they might have at home, which I think is beautiful? We're really starting the learning earlier and we know where the science points in terms to how important and powerful it is for our little ones to have those opportunities within the homes. So a lot of that work with SAELI has just been beautiful and it has been so powerful to see our families coming into the spaces and really seeing themselves as leaders and advocates.

Lisa Solomon:

Also, I think it's a perfect model, Bianca, for what true community-family partnerships look like, because it's the San Ana Unified School District working with parents, developing leadership skills. Parents have learned about the developmental stages for early learning so they know what kids should be doing by six months, 12 months. They're sharing it out into the community so they're spreading the word, and we're working with community partners like SAELI, UCI. We're working with Project Rise that is helping not only to build the capacity within parents but also within our staff. They're taking on these projects where they're seeing a need. They're analyzing data.

Lisa Solomon:

At my school we need to work more on a physical component of school readiness, which means working on gross and fine motor skills. Parents now know what like that means and they're developing projects that they are going to lead around these areas to get out into their community. The parents were learning how to advocate and learning all this information. They're sharing it out, not just to parents at our school, but they're going out into the neighborhood so they're bringing a true change into the community. So it has the partners, it has school staff, it has parents and it has a leadership component where we're all coming together, once again, to make sure that we're improving not only students' success, school success, but now community success as well.

Bianca Barquin:

Yeah, those neighborhood leadership teams is what we're actually talking about, right? Beautiful work. Okay. So, before we sign off, it's time for our Amplifier Acknowledgement segment. Lisa and Elisa, if you could amplify the message or lesson of one educator or leader who's made a significant impact in your journey, who would it be and what would that resonating message be? We'll start with you, Lisa.

Lisa Solomon:

Okay, Bianca, you know me and I couldn't keep it to one, because there's two people who've had a huge impact in my life. One was Judy Magsaysay. She was a principal here in Santa Ana and she left me with some words that have like driven the work that I've done, and her words were, it's about people before paper. That's kind of what's established within me, why it's so important to listen to people, build relationships, care for them. Then the second person is my Nana, because my Nana taught me that every person needs to be valued and that our job here on earth is to serve others. That's why God put us here. That's what she taught me, and I feel like that's what I've carried on and I've hopefully shared it with others, so then we can carry that on throughout our district, even in my home life, to my kids. That's what our purpose is here on earth to help others and serve others.

Bianca Barquin:

Honestly, Lisa, you live both of those messages daily in not only your words but your actions. I love both. I love your Nana and I actually deeply loved your Nana and I actually loved Judy Magsaysay. Judy Magsaysay was a social worker, right, wasn't that her background?

Lisa Solomon:

I think so, but honestly, everything that we did and she trained us when we were at Pio Pico, which is now a community school and I'm so proud of that fact, everything that we worked on was about building that strong sense of community. I honestly don't know if she did have a background in social work, but I have to tell you everything she did was about making sure that we were taking care of our families and that when we focus on the whole child, that we really are helping our students to be more successful.

Bianca Barquin:

Maybe I'm mistaken, but her love of community, that's just what automatically comes to mind with Judy. Thank you for sharing.

Elisa Briseño-Sandoval:

So for me it's also very hard to pinpoint to one person, but first and foremost has always been my mom and my dad. My mom is that woman of, échale ganas, tu puedues, like you can overcome anything and everything if you just work hard. And that message with me and all of the difficulties and challenges of life always sticks with me that we have to work hard, we can't give up, we can do bigger and better things than we even imagine or fathom if we just have hope. And so that message to me has really carried me, like along all my life journeys. And for my dad, he has inspired and instilled in me the love of learning. My dad, every single night when I was little, he would come home after a long days of work and pick up a book, which is beautiful. I mean, seeing your dad every single night learn something new, share something new, really instilled the love of reading and what education can bring to you. I think really instilled in me my love for education and my love for always learning and having that growth mindset. And, you know, in terms of like mentor leader, for me, that really has inspired me and motivated all this time, was working closely with now Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento.

Elisa Briseño-Sandoval:

He actually took me on when I was 21 years old.

Elisa Briseño-Sandoval:

I was an intern for Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and he was coming to Washington, DC to do a tour the Capitol and you know, like he told me, like you know what, you're one of ours, you know you're from Santa Ana.

Elisa Briseño-Sandoval:

When you come back, you can work with me and from there, like it really led, seeing in myself you know that I could be a leader just like him, that you know messages such as, as long as you love what you do, you're gonna be successful, has stayed with me. Seeing him as that advocate for the community and really being, you know, the person that sees himself as listening to others all the time and as he's listening, then making those decisions about how we move forward as a city or a county, has just been so powerful in terms of my work and now what I do with face and how Lisa mentioned listening is so important because it's not like we're the ones that are leading the work. It's our families telling us where we're moving and what we're gonna do next, for their best interest, in the best interests of our kids.

Bianca Barquin:

Thank you for sharing Elisa. Now I actually see where your optimism and resilience comes from, so awesome. Such powerful acknowledgements. Remember, leadership is not just about guiding, but also celebrating and acknowledging those who've paved the way. I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our esteemed guests Lisa Solomon and Elisa Briseños-Sandoval for being here today. Your stories and the groundbreaking efforts of the Family and Community Engagement team have truly illuminated the spirit of collaboration and transformation within our district. Lisa, Elisa, your unwavering commitment and passion are not just changing the narrative; they're sculpting a brighter future for our schools and weaving a tighter fabric of community. We are deeply grateful for your visionary leadership and the tangible impacts of your dedication. To our listeners, your presence and support breathe life into SA USD's Amplifying Leadership. This journey we're on is built on the belief that unity, collaboration, and shared purpose can elevate us all. Together we're not just dreaming of a better future. We are actively crafting it for our students and their families. So until next time, let's keep this momentum of engagement and inspiration alive.