Community of Belonging

Community of Belonging Staff Picks – Hispanic Heritage Month

Sol Food (restaurant)
A Taste of Puerto Rico (cookbook)

Staff Pick: Justo Alvarez, Billing Specialist| Mental Health & Professional Learning 

Best Puerto Rican Food (In My Opinion). I highly recommend trying Sol Food Restaurant (locations in Marin and Sonoma Counties). The food is authentic, and it’s a great place to experience Puerto Rican cuisine. I’ve also been cooking more lately, and this cookbook has been a great way to learn about Puerto Rico’s history through its cuisine. I especially like that the author is a chef who weaves the island’s history into its traditional dishes.

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“Real Women Have Curves” (movie)

Staff Pick: Seana Wagner, Director of Communications & Special Projects

The 2002 movie “Real Women Have Curves” is a coming-of-age story about Ana García (America Ferrera in her breakout role), a first-generation Mexican-American teenager in East Los Angeles who juggles her ambitions of going to college with her traditional mother’s expectations that she work in a garment factory, find a husband, and stay close to home.

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Staff Picks: Yolanda Ayala, Certified Wellness Coach II, Camille Creek

“I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” (book) 

• Erika L. Sánchez is a Mexican American poet, novelist, and essayist whose work explores identity, family, immigration, grief, mental health, and the complexities of growing up between cultures. She is best known for her acclaimed young adult novel I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, which resonated with readers for its honest portrayal of first-generation experiences and the pressures placed on Latina daughters. Learn more about Erika and her other work at erikalsanchez.com/books.

Las Cafeteras (music)

• Born and raised in East L.A., Las Cafeteras have taken the music scene by storm and crossed many genres and borders along the way. They are a sonic explosion of Afro-Mexican rhythms, electronic beats, and powerful rhymes that document stories of a community seeking to ‘build a world where many worlds fit.’ With over 40 years combined experience in organizing, cultural work, training facilitation, and storytelling workshops, Las Cafeteras use the Arts as a tool to shape the present for a more just future. 

Melanie Cervantes (artist)

• Melanie Cervantes, Bay Area Artist and Printmaker (Dignidad Rebelde)- Melanie is a Xicana “activist-artist whose role is to translate the hopes and dreams of justice movements into images that agitate and inspire. At UC Berkeley she received formal training in Ethnic Studies… Melanie fuses what she learned from this interdisciplinary study of racialized peoples, her art skills and her strong decolonizing politics in order to become a powerhouse ‘artist of the people’”.

Yosimar Reyes (poet)

• Yosimar Reyes, Santa Clara County Poet Laureate, “Hailing from East San Jose by way of Guerrero Mexico”, Reyes made a name for himself at the age of sixteen, captivating Bay Area stages with powerful spoken word performances rooted in migration, queerness, and working-class resilience. His dynamic storytelling has since evolved into a nationally celebrated body of work that includes keynote speeches, writing workshops, and theatrical performances.” 

Theatrical works:  

• Prieto 
• No Llegamos Aquí Solos (premiering soon!)
• Si Dios Quiere, Regreso (premiering Fall ‘26)

Luis Valdez (theater)

• Luis Valdez, the “Godfather of Chicano Theatre,” is one of the most influential Mexican-American playwrights, filmmakers, and activists in U.S. history. He transformed theater into a powerful tool for social justice, cultural pride, and political organizing, giving voice to the experiences of Mexican-American farmworkers, working-class families, and Chicano communities at a time when they were largely absent from mainstream American theater and film. Valdez’s greatest contribution began in 1965 when he founded El Teatro Campesino (The Farmworkers’ Theater) during the Delano Grape Strike alongside the UFW (United Farm Workers) movement. Groundbreaking works:
  • Los Vendidos
  • Zoot Suit
  • La Bamba

Go watch his documentary “American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez” (link above) in theatres now!

Diego Perez (author)

• Diego Perez, better known as Yung Pueblo, is an Ecuadorian-born writer, poet, and speaker whose work centers on emotional healing/mindfulness/self-awareness & healthy relationships. The name Yung Pueblo means “young people” and reflects his belief that humanity is growing toward greater compassion and awareness. His writing is known for being short/reflective passages grounded in mindfulness, meditation, and healing. The following are his books:
  • Inward
  • Clarity & Connection
  • Lighter
  • The Way Forward
  • How To Love Better

Jorge Argueta (author)

• Jorge Argueta’s Bilingual Cooking Poems (illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh)
  • Salsa
  • Guacamole 
  • Tamalitos
  • Arroz Con Leche
  • Sopa De Frijoles

These beautiful children’s books by Salvadoran poet, educator, and storyteller, invite students to see their culture and home language as strengths while helping ALL youth (Pre-K through 12th Grade and beyond!) appreciate diversity within Latinx communities.  Themes covered: food, family, traditions, culture, identity, migration, belonging, nature. Cross-Curricular connections: ELA, Math, Science, Health, History, Art, SEL

Latino Musicians

• Musicians/Bands to rock out to:

• Becky G (Mexican American)- Pop, reggaeton, and Latin pop artist who proudly embraces her bilingual and bicultural identity.

• Mon Laferte (Chile)- Acclaimed for heartfelt songwriting that spans rock, folk, bolero, and Latin pop.

• Carla Morrison (Mexico)- Celebrated for emotionally rich indie-pop songs centered on self-love and healing

• Lila Downs (Mexico) – Blends Indigenous, Mexican folk, jazz, and world music while celebrating Indigenous cultures and social justice.

• Natalia Lafourcade– One of Latin America’s most celebrated contemporary artists, known for preserving traditional Mexican music

• The Marías– Los Angeles-based bilingual band blending indie pop, jazz, and dream pop.

• Snow Tha Product– Mexican American rapper known for bilingual lyricism and independent success

• Cafe Tacvba– Blends traditional Mexican music with alternative rock, celebrating Mexican culture while pushing musical boundaries 

• Ozomatli- L.A.-based bilingual band combines Latin music, rock, hip-hop, funk, reggae, jazz, and global rhythms into energetic sounds reflective of their hometown.

• La Santa Cecilia– Mexican American band blend traditional Latin American music with rock, jazz, soul, cumbia, bolero, and blues.

 

Previous Staff Picks

The Goals of the NCOE Community of Belonging are:

1. Establish a process that is bigger than “training” and holds us all accountable to acting on our shared values.
2. Provide opportunities for students and community members to be educated in cultural understanding.
3. Create resources/ strategies to assist departments in learning about and implementing practices that support belonging.
4. Engage in a sustainable improvement plan that includes data driven assessment of our gaps and inequities, and provides recommendations for the ongoing process(es) that ensures that change continues over time.
5. Have staff, including leadership, that are reflective and representative of the communities we serve.

The work of the NCOE Community of Belonging is conducted by the following four workgroups. Staff interested in joining in this work can contact Julie McClure.

The BRIDGE Initiative:

• Provides small group training to staff focusing on the RIR protocol for engaging in conversations around sensitive issues.
• Members receive training with Nancy Dome around Compassionate Dialogue (TM).
  Develops recommendations for, and implementation of new e-learning modules.
• In response to surveys, wants to support having conversations about policies, practices, and procedures and related topics of interest.

Student Engagement Initiative:

• Connecting student projects with each cultural recognition theme.
• Expanding to include more student groups, including Early Childhood.
• Creating a format for student art exhibitions at both offices.

Excelling Through Evaluation Initiative:

• Develops and finalizes the annual staff survey.
• Manages the process for staff distribution, encourages responsiveness, and survey analysis.
• Provides participating staff an opportunity to engage in the survey process and share their perspectives.

Investing in People Initiative:

• Interest in focusing on investing in people and building a pipeline for representation in upper management.
• Will revamp objectives to better reflect the systems-change purpose of this work.
• Potential areas of consideration include: recruitment, interview process, staff onboarding, staff goal setting, review and key performance indicators.
• Reframing the conversation: demographic parity is an issue of fairness, not representation.

NCOE Ambassadors Program:

The Ambassadors Program engages all staff in courageous conversations to foster learning and growth and to build a culture of equity. These Ambassadors, volunteers drawn from NCOE managers, received training on cultural equity to prepare them to co-facilitate these thoughtful, small group conversations.