Relationship as Revolution to Support Youth Thriving

November 4, 2:00 pm ET

On the eve of the 2024 Presidential Election, join Grantmakers for Education, Trust for Learning, and Early Childhood Funders Collaborative for a conversation that elevates the connections between young people’s moment-to-moment development in close relationships and the trust and collective willpower we need to build effective and sustainable movements that support youth thriving in election years and beyond.

While others are welcome to attend, this event is intended for members and education grantmakers.

There is no cost to attend this Grantmakers for Education program. Registration closes 15 minutes prior to the program time. Thank you for your patience; we review each registration in advance.

Thank you to our cohosts, Early Childhood Funders Collaborative and Trust for Learning.

About the Speakers

Lucy Recio
Co-Founder
Third Bloom Consulting

For more than 15 years, Lucy Recio has built campaigns, programs, and systems to inform education policy and shape public understanding and discourse around the need to transform our nation’s education system. A community organizer and resource mobilizer, Lucy’s steadfast passion is fueled by creating safe, affirming spaces where the voices, expertise, and experiences of directly impacted individuals drive equity and power building conversations in the education sector. She has played instrumental roles in shaping public narratives around prenatal to career education, helped secure more than $54 billion in COVID-19 relief dollars for the child care sector, and has helped grow a national movement of early childhood educators invested in shaping the policies and systems impacting their profession.

She has held leadership roles at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI), and the Office of the Bronx Borough President in New York City, as well as supported numerous national, state and local organizations advance their policy, advocacy, communications, and movement building strategies through her consulting firm, Third Bloom Consulting, LLC.

Marina Rodriguez
Educational Mentor Coach
All Our Kin

Marina Rodriguez was born in Puerto Rico, and has spent most of her adult life in New Haven, CT. Marina was raised in a family of strong women who all cared for each other and each other’s children. Growing up in a systematic marginalized community, caring for each other’s children was at the center of moving out of poverty. Marina has worked directly with families, children, and family childcare educators for 25 years. Entering the Early Childhood workforce as a young parent in Head Start, Marina is a true organizer of women and children. She works purposefully to support women who work with children to provide rich, responsive, child-centered, culturally and developmentally appropriate practices and environments for children. Currently, Marina is the Education Mentor Coach in the Technical Assistance team at All Our Kin, where she supports new and experienced staff to engage in the work with Family Child Care from a deeply relational and reflective space.

Marcus Strother
Executive Director
MENTOR California

Marcus Strother is the Executive Director of MENTOR California, the California affiliate of MENTOR: The National Partnership, the unifying national champion for expanding quality mentoring relationships for young people.

A father, husband, career educator, youth and community advocate, he is a veteran in public education. Marcus spent eight years in the classroom and nine as a high school administrator, most recently as Director of Youth Development at Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD). At SCUSD he oversaw the district’s Expanded Learning Programs, Summer Programming and Boys and Girls of Color initiatives, which included the coordination of the Men’s Leadership Academy (MLA) and Women’s Leadership Academy (WLA). The program focused on supporting youth in the development of their personal social justice framework through civic engagement and community building.