Miriam Raccah
CEO
Black Latinx Asian Charter Collaborative

Miriam Raccah A dynamic advocate for education reform, Miriam Raccah has over 20 years of experience leading non-profit organizations dedicated to innovation in urban education. Most notably, she co-founded Girls Preparatory Charter Schools and the Public Prep Network. As the founder of Urban Teaching Corps, Raccah dedicated 5 years to developing minority teachers to lead urban classrooms. From 2017-2022, she was the Executive Director of Bronx Charter School for the Arts, a community-based charter school integrating the arts. During that time, she co-founded its Middle School to serve students in the South Bronx. In 2018, Raccah co-founded the Black, Latinx Asian Charter Collaborative to elevate charter schools founded and led by people of color in New York City. In July 2022, she assumed the role of CEO of the organization, which currently has 24 school members across New York State representing over 14,000 students and leaders who see community-based schools founded by leaders of color as vehicles for change. Prior to her school leadership, Miriam worked in workforce development and services for the homeless in New York City. She holds a B.A. from the University of Arizona, an MBA in Finance from NYU, a Certificate in Nonprofit Executive Leadership from Columbia, and a Certificate in Charter School Leadership from Harvard. She currently serves on the board of the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum for Art and Storytelling in Harlem and on the Trustee Committee on Learning and Engagement at MOMA.

Andrea Zayas
Executive Director
Journey into Education and Teaching (JET)

A nationally-recognized leader in education policy and practice, Andrea Zayas envisions self-determined communities of color teeming with thinkers, doers, and makers who are inspired and prepared from youth to use their gifts in service to collective wellness. Since 1998, she has leveraged her experience as a public school teacher and mother to build bridges between families, educators, administrators, and policymakers - developing and implementing research-backed strategies that have been adopted around the country to maximize positive outcomes for Black and Brown youth. In 2008 and 2018, respectively, Zayas founded La Cima Elementary Charter School in Brooklyn, New York and the New Orleans Youth Alliance, both award-winning institutions that center youth leadership as an integral tool in community sustainability. Zayas has also served as Regional State Turnaround Superintendent in Camden, New Jersey, Director for Charter School Accountability for the New York City Department of Education, and Chief Academic Office at Boston Public Schools. Most recently, she developed and executed education grantmaking, policy, and systems change work as the National Director of K-12 Education at the Ballmer Group. She is excited to be Play 00:00 01:55 Mute Settings Enter fullscreen 00:00 starting in a new role as Executive Director of a Massachusetts based non-profit organization, Journey into Education and Teaching (JET) whose mission it is to diversify the teacher workforce by supporting para educators to complete steps to become licensed educators. She currently serves on the Biden Administration’s Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics and as a faculty member at Boston University's Wheelock College of Education. Zayas is a first-generation high school and college graduate and proud daughter of the African diaspora with indigenous Colombian and Afro-Boricua roots. She is a doctoral candidate in Urban Education Leadership at Xavier University of Louisiana. She earned her Master’s in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and her bachelor’s at Rutgers University.