Danica (front row, far right) and Rich (back row, thrid from left) with NILSL fellows.

Earlier this summer, Penn Hill Group Principal, Danica Petroshius, Vice President, Rich Stombres and Senior Associate, Ruth López, participated in National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR’s) Annual Conference. At the conference, the largest gathering of its kind in the Hispanic community, Penn Hill Group provided insight into federal education issues affecting the Latino community to attendees representing early learning educators and K-12 school leaders.

Ruth served on a panel with Veronica Garcia, former New Mexico Secretary of Education, and discussed the National Institute for Latino Leaders in Early Childhood Education (NILLECE), while Danica moderated a panel that included Rich, Alejandra Ceja, Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, and Gini Pupo-Walker, Executive Director of Family & Community Partnerships at Metro Nashville Public Schools. They provided feedback to the National Institute for Latino School Leaders Initiative (NILSL) Fellows on various policy recommendations the fellows developed. NILSL is a program designed to bridge the gap between practice and policy by providing school leaders with the tools they need to advocate for policies and reform efforts that lead to improved educational outcomes for Latino and ELL students. It is the only institute that trains school administrators to advocate for national- and state-level policies that strengthen the education of Latino students and ELLs while educating decision-makers.