Education + Early Years
Next100 is committed to enhancing educational equity by researching, developing, and advocating for policies that expand educational opportunities and enable all children to access high-quality, affordable education, from child care to post-secondary education. In this work, we aim to address the many disadvantages communities of color, low-income families, and immigrants face in our traditional education system.
It’s Time We Live Up to Our Promise to Newcomer Students
It’s time to implement policies at the federal level to make resources available for all schools that serve newcomers, and hold schools accountable for doing so effectively.
Read MoreWho's Working on It
Rosario Quiroz Villarreal is an advocate for immigrants and students. Growing up as an undocumented immigrant, Rosario understood that her parents made sacrifices in moving to a new country in order to secure better opportunities for the future. At Next100, Rosario focuses on protecting the rights and access to education of immigrant students, creating more culturally inclusive classrooms, and interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline.
Roquel Crutcher is an advocate and activist for social justice and educational equity. At Next100, Roquel focuses on increasing educational opportunities and postsecondary outcomes for young people in marginalized communities. Roquel has worked at several educational nonprofits as an advocate for educational equity.
Levi is an advocate for progressive child care policy and high-quality early education. Levi previously served in the Obama administration at the U.S. Department of Education, and has worked in the U.S. House of Representatives and with education nonprofits. At Next100, Levi’s work focuses on expanding access to high-quality child care and early childhood development opportunities.
Emma Vadehra was the founder and former executive director of Next100. She previously served as chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Education under Secretaries Arne Duncan and John B. King, Jr. and as senior education counsel for the late senator Edward M. Kennedy. She is an education policy wonk, an advocate for progressive policy change, and a believer in the next generation.
Francisco Miguel Araiza was the deputy executive director of Next100. He has spent his career leveraging research and data to advocate for more inclusive, just, and equitable public policies. His passion for public policy stems from his first-hand experience of social inequities as a low-income and undocumented youth.
Alejandra is an educational equity and immigration justice advocate. At Next100, Alejandra’s work focuses on expanding systemic academic, social, and emotional supports for K–12 immigrant students and multilingual learners, drawing on her teaching experience in Miami–Dade County Public Schools. Alejandra is a proud product of Mexican immigrants, and previously worked at various education and immigration non-profit organizations in New York City.
Stefan Redding Lallinger is the executive director of Next100, a think tank that is redefining how policy development is done by putting those closest to and most impacted by policy […]
kier blake is a second-generation Jamaican climate organizer and educator who is dedicated to disrupting the status quo in climate education. At Next100, kier is working to expand access to interdisciplinary, justice-centered climate education in New York’s K–12 schools and beyond. kier’s approach is informed by the lack of climate education they received learning in Los Angeles and while working in New York City schools, despite living in a community disproportionately impacted by climate change.
Rudrani is a storyteller and an advocate for migrant rights, hailing from the city of Kolkata, in India. At Next100, she focuses on increasing access to affordable and dignified housing for refugees and asylum seekers. Shaped by her experiences as a first-generation immigrant from a low income family, Rudrani also works to expand economic stability and educational resources for migrant communities.
