National Education Group Focused on Black and Brown Communities Gets New CEO
Sharhonda Bossier takes the helm as EdLoC’s impact grows
For Immediate Distribution: March 4, 2021
Contact: Donald Gatlin, 202-460-6109, dgatlin@rabengroup.com
LOS ANGELES — Today, Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC) announced that Sharhonda Bossier will take over the role of CEO following the loss of her colleague and Founding CEO, Layla Avila, late last year.
Bossier said, “I’m honored to step into this role at such a critical moment for the education sector and the nation. As the country grapples with the combined challenges of COVID-19 and growing civil unrest, students of color are more vulnerable than they’ve been in decades. There’s an urgent need for programs that serve Black and Brown children, designed by teachers, mentors, and other adults in their lives who look like them and understand their experiences. I look forward to honoring Layla’s legacy, by leveraging EdLoC’s flagship programs, like the Boulder Fund, to elevate and support the more than 400 EdLoC members across the country creating sustainable change for children who have been ignored for too long.”
As EdLoC’s CEO, Bossier will focus on expanding EdLoC’s scope and focus by strengthening its growing multi-racial coalition and designing holistic solutions to disrupt cycles of generational poverty in the communities EdLoC serves. Since 2016, EdLoC has enabled leaders of color in education and related fields to connect, elevate, and empower each other to advance multisector solutions that promote learning for Black and Latino children nationwide.
Bossier’s strong track record as a leader in education spans experiences at national nonprofit organizations focused on creating change at the local, state, and federal levels. Among them, she launched a multi-state education engagement and advocacy organization to help communities develop the skills and capacity to more effectively engage with decision makers, including policymakers. For the past five years, Bossier has served as EdLoC’s deputy director.
EdLoC Board Chair, Richard Nyankori, said “Sharhonda is an exceptional strategist, with deep roots in helping communities organize themselves in pursuit of greater self-determination. She embodies the third way values EdLoC promotes. The board is thrilled to have her at the helm as we work together to fulfill EdLoC’s mission to break through the polarizing divides that have consumed efforts to improve public education.”
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About EdLoC:
Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC) is a community of over 400 leaders of color working to elevate the leadership, voices, and influence of people of color in education and to leading more inclusive efforts to improve education. EdLoC aims to advance a third way that breaks through the polarizing divides that have consumed efforts to improve public education and to forge the alliances needed to realize and sustain EdLoC’s vision of providing low-income children of color expansive and substantive opportunities for the highest levels of academic and economic attainment. To learn more about the Boulder Fund, please visit www.edloc.org.
