Viridiana Carrizales
CEO, ImmSchools
Overview:
As an immigrant-led and direct-service organization, ImmSchools has impacted over 12,000 educators, undocumented students and families in the past 3 years by providing professional development and workshops to ensure our schools are safe and inclusive for all students no matter their immigration status. As we embark in our 4th year as an organization, we are seeking the support of Boulder Fund to strengthen our advocacy capacity to further our reach beyond education and create sustainable change in pursuit of educational equity and immigrant justice.
Bio:
Viridiana Carrizales was born in Michoacán, Mexico and immigrated with her family to the United States when she was 11 years old. Her family settled in Texas, and after 14 years, she became a citizen. Before co-founding ImmSchools, Viridiana led the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) strategy at Teach For America (TFA), leading their team to recruit and place teachers with DACA classrooms throughout the country. Through her leadership, the program recruited over 240 DACA educators teaching in 22 cities across 11 states. Viridiana earned a BA in Spanish Literature and Communications from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a Pahara Fellow and received honors from Austin Chamber of Commerce and the League of United Latin American Citizens for her leadership and dedication to the immigrant community.