Women Voices From Chicago: Community Leaders in Public Education
We are proud to continue to share inspiring voices from Chicago in celebration of Women’s History Month. We hope this short series provided you with new perspectives and insights on the importance and commitment of community work. Read our recent posts for motivation to continue your fight towards inclusive and equitable social justice in your community.
In this blog post, we share an empowering story of a community leader in education, Nurys Uceta, Sustainable Community Schools Program Coordinator at Chicago Public Schools.
Nurys Uceta
Nurys Uceta, an Afro-Latina born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her family was one of the few Dominican families in the area and although she is a proud island baby, Nurys struggled like most first-generation immigrant children to negotiate her own family’s culture with American culture. She was aware of the disconnect and was comforted and embraced by friends of Mexican descent, the only other Latinx culture around her. Many first-generation children assimilate by changing the way we speak, look, and act to fit in at some point. Nonetheless, living authentically becomes a struggle until you discover comfortable spaces that enable you to embrace who you truly are.
While at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Nurys was part of student organizing history with two student organizations. Although historically a Mexican American student organization, MEChA was originally founded as Movimento Estudiantil Chicana de Atzlan but is now an inclusive student organization focused on community empowerment through political participation for the liberation of all oppressed people. Nurys witnessed first-hand how student organizing effectively preserved MEChA’s headquarter building after the university threatened to reclaim the property. Nurys did not feel as comfortable in other university spaces since these were oftentimes dominated by White students and student organizations. Spaces like MEChA enabled Nurys to feel safe and welcomed to fully be herself in order to succeed in college. She is also a founding sister of the Madison Chapter of Corazones Unidos Siempre, Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority Inc. This strong and empowering group of women was Nurys’ motivation and support system to live her purpose in her work towards a fulfilling life. She was inspired to focus on education after many years of mentoring youth in summer programs throughout college as well as living out her organization’s motto of “Wisdom Through Education.” Nurys graduated in 2015 with a B.S. in international studies with an emphasis on politics, policy, and global economy, as well as a minor in Chican@/ Latinx studies.
Mujer Poderosa
An empowered woman, Nurys currently leads coordinators across several Chicago Public Schools to implement the Sustainable Community Schools program for the third-largest school district in the country. Her journey to this position was a long and difficult road in community work, one she is grateful for and passionate about. Shortly after college, she learned to embody the definition of power at a week-long training for community leadership led by the Gamaliel Network, a national grassroots organization rooted in faith focused on community empowerment towards effective political actions. Thereafter, she was hired as a community organizer in Chicago at Pilsen Neighbors Community Council, a proud chapter of Gamaliel, working alongside parent leaders for equitable and quality education in neighborhood schools. After her two years as lead organizer of parent leaders in Pilsen, Nurys completed her M.A, in Community and Teacher Leadership at Northeastern University in 2018 focusing her thesis on women leadership in public education. Once again, she was part of history as one of the graduates of the inaugural cohort to complete this program. Nurys’ commitment and collective experience in public education in the Midwest offers us some guidance on community organizing for American policy.
Lessons From The Micro For The Macro
Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest school district in the country, is infamous for conflicting media narratives on teacher strikes, school closings, and their relationship with powerful counterpart, CTU’s union leadership. Similar to the current state of our American government, the system is largely complex but has come a long way despite criticism. CPS’ CEO Janice Jackson, a former student, teacher, principal, network chief, and chief education officer of the district, founded a Department of Equity in 2018. Although new and far from perfect, this department is still an important win to BIPOC families in underserved schools. Nurys is proud the initiative, Sustainable Community Schools under the Department of Student Support Services of the Office of College, Career, & Success, is only three years old and has made a promising impact despite bumps in the road. This program serves to build from the community’s strengths and weaknesses to meet the unique needs of each school to further develop authentic parent engagement, shared leadership and decision-making, and a culturally relevant curriculum in order to implement long-term solutions to bridge gaps of inequity and prepare students for success beyond K-12. Nurys fully understands the complexity of this school system and its complicated relationship with its community.
She has years of experience advocating for quality education on behalf of parents with language barriers and as an administrator who is passionate about creating accessible and affordable quality public education.
“Schools should be the hub of the community. I don’t believe people should travel out of their community for quality education that is relevant to them and will help them become successful. I truly believe people should find all of the things they need in their community because other people have it like that in affluent communities.”
In the seven years, she has worked passionately to improve public education in Chicago, Nurys has witnessed positive changes over time that have been brought to life out of grassroots struggle and innovative ideas, as well as the collaboration of CPS, CTU, and Grassroots Education Movement. Nurys sheds light on the fact that people assume schools are already succeeding at a level of inclusion and equity across large cities but at the micro-level, this type of work gets frustrating because change takes time, and it is collaborative work.
Todo A Su Tiempo
As Nurys’ mother says, “everything will happen when it is supposed to happen,” but Nurys. However, Nurys honors the commitment of community work.
“We don’t’ just sit with our patience. We work diligently and provide one another with the support we need to keep going. Talk to me in 25 years when you see where these kids are. We’ve been doing this for three years. We just got started,” says Nurys.
In the meantime, check-in with yourself and other leaders. Nurys sees herself as guiding her leaders like a coach.
“A lot of times the people we are coaching and hyping up have been through a lot. If you don’t express your compassion, care, and hype, they might walk away.”
Parents have language barriers, economic struggles, and even distrust the system from their own personal experience as students in the district. Nonetheless, Nurys continues to provide, in addition to her professional insights, emotional and motivational support to other community leaders.
“People have the power within themselves to create change,” says Nurys.
Share Your Story
We are so grateful for Nurys Uceta’s commitment, dedication, and passion for improving and creating equitable access to quality public education for BIPOC students in Chicago. We hope her insights are the motivational words you need to read at this very moment to continue to work diligently to be patient with yourself and others, build coalition across differences, commit to understanding the systems that govern us, grow from the challenges, and innovate new ideas to solve stuck ways of thinking.
If you want to submit a story about an insightful community leader, please contact us and share your VOICE.
Originally posted on the NIOT Daniel Island’s VOICES blog.
