Type: Board

Vickie Ramos Harris

President

Vickie Ramos Harris has two decades of experience advocating for educational equity in California, Boston, and New York City. Vickie’s “community-based policy making” lens drives her work in early childhood (ECE), K-12 and Dual Language Learner/English Learner (DLL/EL) education. As Director of Educational Equity at Advancement Project California, Vickie leads policy advocacy across the Birth to 12th grade system to advance racial equity and economic justice, focusing on areas including: ECE, DLL/EL and bilingual education, ECE-K-12 systems alignment, full and fair funding for public education. She has led and supported research, program design, community engagement and local, state and federal policy and implementation, including state and school district investments in ECE and bilingual education, as well as the creation of a new grade level (transitional kindergarten) in California.

Vickie previously served as Advancement Project California’s Associate Director of Educational Equity, Early Edge California’s State Policy Director, and  Chief of Staff to LAUSD Board Vice-President Yolie Flores. Her prior work also includes direct service with children and families with the Boyle Heights Learning Collaborative, Families In Schools, Upward Bound, Children’s Aid Society, Loisaida Inc., and the Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program. Vickie holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Pomona College, and a master’s degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She advocates for DLLs with the Coalition for Quality Early Education, was a fellow with the English Learner Leadership & Legacy Initiative, and formerly served on the Pomona College Alumni Board as well as Board President of the Children’s Collabrium.

Anya Hurwitz

Vice President

Dr. Anya Hurwitz is the Executive Director of SEAL (Sobrato Early Academic Language). She has a longstanding commitment to creating the conditions for public schools to meet the diverse needs of their students’ academic and socio-emotional development. Dr. Hurwitz has worked as a teacher, school leader, district administrator, and within the educational nonprofit sector. The early part of her career was in New York City where she helped start a small secondary school in the Bronx and later became a Network Leader within the NYC Department of Education to a diverse group of 24 schools, preschool through early college. In 2010, she moved to northern California and began working as an educational consultant supporting district and school leaders as they planned and implemented strategic reform efforts.

Dr. Hurwitz joined the SEAL team in 2014 as Deputy Director and became Executive Director in 2017. She has a masters from Teacher College, Columbia University, and a doctorate in educational leadership from UC Berkeley.

Grace Cho

Member at Large

Dr. Grace Cho is a Professor and World Language Credential Program Coordinator in the Department of Secondary Education at California State University, Fullerton, where she also served as Department Chair for five years. A former LAUSD teacher, she prepares educators to advance equity and academic achievement for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Her research focuses on bilingual education, heritage language development, multicultural education, and teacher preparation. Dr. Cho has led the development of Korean, Mandarin, and Vietnamese bilingual authorization programs and a study abroad initiative, and she currently leads the development of Korean Ethnic Studies resources for teachers.

Ajay Lucas

Member at Large

Ajay Lucas is a seasoned policy strategist with over a decade of experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. In his current role as Senior Policy Manager at UNITE-LA, he leverages his extensive background to strengthen the organization’s cradle-through-career policy agenda.

Prior to his current role, Lucas led systems-change efforts within the workforce development department at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, fostering collaboration among education, business, and workforce leaders. He has also served as an immigration legal service provider at the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), spearheading partnerships with local community colleges and state universities in Southern California.

Before transitioning to policy work, Lucas spent nearly a decade in the fashion industry, working with Fortune 500 companies. His experiences as a formerly undocumented immigrant fueled his passion for advocacy in education equity, language justice, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration reform, and economic justice. He is committed to enhancing education and career pathways for marginalized communities, particularly immigrants and English learners in California.

Lucas holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Berkeley and is currently completing a master’s degree in public policy at the University of Southern California. In his spare time, Lucas enjoys hiking, running, mentoring students, and caring for his over 100 house plants, embodying the spirit of continuous self-improvement and service to others.

Laurie Olsen

Member At Large

Laurie was one of the original group of EL advocates who in 1998 – heartbroken yet determined in the wake of the passage of Proposition 227 – set out to establish an enduring organization to be a voice for English learners in California. She served on the original Board, and has continued to be integrally involved in our leadership since that time. Believing in the power of words and voice to speak truth to power, she has served as a writer, researcher and spokesperson for Californians Together while also throwing herself into creating models and examples of powerful joyful classrooms and schools for English learners as Director of the Sobrato Early Academic Language model currently being replicated in 100 schools across 20 districts.