Born in El Salvador, Jessie began her public education journey in kindergarten and had to learn to navigate the school system as an English language learner. Over the past 17 years, Jessie has been tenacious in engaging families, early childhood educators, and communities in co-designing programs and services for children birth to five and their families. Jessie served as the Family Engagement Manager for a Head Start Birth to Five grantee in Southern California, where she led the development and implementation of a comprehensive transition services system, engaging parents, local school leaders, and community-based organizations in its ongoing iterations. Jessie was a member of LACOE’s transition Workgroup and contributed to the development and rollout of the 1st edition of the Birth to Kindergarten Transition Systems Alignment Framework, now in its 3rd edition.
In her current role as FIS’ Chief of Staff, Jessie supports the organization in engaging partners beyond theoretical family engagement conversations to real conversations that center and explore unconscious biases around race and poverty.