Narrator:
As WestEd commemorates 60 years of supporting thriving learners and empowered communities, we asked our staff and board members to reflect on our history and look ahead to our future.
Describe one of your proudest accomplishments here at WestEd.
Niki Sandoval, Program Director, WestEd:
I’m really happy to talk about our accomplishments here at WestEd. One of my favorite stories to tell is the work that we’re doing with tribal governments to support strategic resource allocation. I work with tribal governments to support resource development to address really critical infrastructure issues that have an impact on education and economic mobility.
We don’t have those basic needs met in our communities. It’s really hard to talk about improving academic outcomes or improving our options for economic mobility. So, that’s one of the things that I love about the work that I do here at WestEd is we think of the challenges and opportunities in our educational systems holistically. So, we’re not just looking at one piece of the puzzle, it’s how do we bring all of these important parts of the system together to affect real and sustained change?