President and Senior Partner
“My great-grandfather came to this country with a Swiss-French accent, $43, and an old violin. Today, his grandchildren are artists, lawyers, writers, public servants, doctors, teachers, policemen, and inventors. And one golf pro. Sure, he worked hard and was pretty lucky, but he also sent his seven kids to California’s public schools.
My grandparents and their children were all taught to read and dream and debate and run by public school teachers in Los Angeles and San Francisco. They cultivated their unique talents and became contributing, engaged members of our democracy because of our public schools. Today, when I imagine the kind of vibrant society I want my own children and their children to live in, I know that that society can only be shaped by a thriving public school system.”
Executive Director Natasha Hoehn traces her lifelong commitment to public education and social justice to her years as a junior high school English teacher in the South Bronx, where she founded the school’s theater program, implemented an “early college” program, and developed a project-based writing curriculum for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. A graduate of Yale University, former Teach for America Corps Member of 1996 and Coro Community Fellow of 2004, Natasha’s passion for teaching and learning has led her to take on numerous leadership roles within the education community: as a student, teacher, policy analyst, fundraiser, evaluator, partner, and communicator.
