Lisa Villarreal is a veteran educator with over 45 years of professional experience that spans everything from classroom teaching to leadership in the community schools movement at local, state and national levels. She has extensive experience in teaching, counseling, administration, public-private partnerships, local government and philanthropy, with a ten-plus-year focus on education equity, as demonstrated by her ten-plus years of service on the National Equity Project Board of Directors.
She served as co-chair and chair of the Coalition for Community Schools Steering Committee from 2005–2020 and continues to provide strong leadership to nonprofit boards focusing on ending chronic absence, preventing child abuse, and ensuring school leaders have the deep knowledge of education equity to flourish in today’s public schools.
Herself a former San Francisco Bay Area teachers’ union executive board member, Lisa understands that supporting our educators and the public schools they serve is paramount to ensuring successful futures for our children and sustaining democracy for our nation.
A Mexican-American with bicultural roots and a lifetime presence in California, Lisa served for two terms on the Grantmakers for Education governing board. She recently co-authored a book entitled The Community Schools Revolution: Building Partnerships, Transforming Lives, Advancing Democracy.
