Jaqlyn Baldwin, executive director and CEO of Siembre Leadership High School in Albuquerque, talks about her experience as a fellow and how it has impacted her work with youth. Here is a transcript of her conversation with KC Counts.
KC Counts:
I'd like to talk to you a little bit about the scope of where your passions are and how that fellowship that you did with W.K. Kellogg Foundation helped you hone that focus and make it fruitful.
Jaqlyn Cornejo-Baldwin:
Well, my passion is teenagers. My passion is young people, particularly young people in New Mexico that are at promise. And I've advocated for them my entire career through working at child protective services and different nonprofits with gang-involved youth and then in education the last, I think the last 12 years, I've been a part of starting two different schools in Albuquerque to really meet the needs with regard to education. And so something that I'm super passionate about is just like, you know, in New Mexico, we're so beautiful as far as language and heritage and land and culture and food and history. And then on the other side, we're so desolate when it comes to child welfare and poverty and especially education outcomes and economic development. And so to be such a beautiful place and see so many young people hurting and in very antiquated education systems and us just being perpetually laughed makes no sense to me. So Loving people through innovative education models has been my thing here. And then when I got hooked up with the Kellogg Fellowship, it was really cool because they intentionally focus on four states, right? So, New Mexico is one, different populations with similar outcomes. And it was like being around professionals around the country that get it and are doing some really amazing things. So, it's hooked me up to different professionals across the country that have helped me partner with them in different ways. And just being a part of this network has been-- God, there's so many different ways that have benefited the school and me, from the fellows themselves to the programming that we all experienced during the fellowship to develop us as leaders further and think more broadly and interconnected and then post fellowship, we graduate into a global fellowship. So, I thought we were doing big things across these four states. And now we're thinking across the world. But I've had a fellow from New Orleans be a keynote speaker at graduation. I've had another local fellow here in New Mexico help me with economic development at my school for kids. And they were able to earn $50,000 in revenue for their student businesses, the school's focus on entrepreneurship. I've had Kellogg fellows be on my school board. So one is on my school board right now, one from Mississippi. Got another Kellogg fellow be on the foundation board for my school. Just thinking through how to partner on grants and opportunities. So it's pushed me. It's definitely pushed me. It's a lot of work.
KC Counts:
Education, obviously, such a hot topic all year long, but especially when we're, when the legislature is getting ready to get to work on top issues facing the state. What have you learned about those fundamental issues that are at work? And do you have some ideas of your own in terms of what solutions we should be going after?
Jaqlyn Cornejo-Baldwin:
Oh, yeah, absolutely. So, a lot of the fundamental issues that are going on right now are still per pupil funding. So, we are definitely not at the top as far as per pupil funding in the nation. And there's literally no reason for it with the reserves that we have in New Mexico. Another challenge that we have is like, yes, we're one of the states that has the highest rates to not graduate kids, but we require some of the highest credits for kids. So, whereas other states don't require the same number of high school credits needed to graduate, we're saying let's have kids do more when we're already failing. So, it literally makes no sense. Some of the initiatives that we're doing at the school, and this has a lot to do with my social work background, is like getting away from a traditional discipline model. So, where we see young people being kicked out and expelled, suspended from school, and says, how do we build relationships and intentional care and professionalize loving kids and then staff schools accordingly with social work practitioners. And so at the school where I'm at, we have, I think, I want to say 11 or 12 social workers for 600 kids, which is really unprecedented. You don't see that anywhere in the state. And then a final thing I'll just say that I'm working on is housing. So, a big piece of stability for kids in education is having their basic needs met. And the goal of Siembrais to be the first public school that also couples housing, dorm-style housing for kids. We have a, what is it? We have one in five, so 20% kids are McKinney-Vento. That just means that they're experiencing homelessness or precariously housed. So, this housing initiative is a really big deal for me.
KC Counts:
Really interesting to see how this is playing out in communities across the state. Did I read that you also have another business? I... Maybe it was a different fellow, so forgive me, but I saw Chingona somewhere.
Jaqlyn Cornejo-Baldwin:
[laughter] Oh yeah, I do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
KC Counts:
And I had to talk to you about that.
Jaqlyn Cornejo-Baldwin:
Yeah, I do education consulting as well, mostly for women of color school leaders that need support.
KC Counts:
Tell me about choosing that name.
Jaqlyn Cornejo-Baldwin:
I wanted it to stick out.
KC Counts:
It's kind of taken on its own life, I think, in pop culture recently.
Jaqlyn Cornejo-Baldwin:
Definitely, yeah.
KC Counts:
Well, Jackie, thank you so much for telling us a little bit about how you're manifesting your leadership skills in education with young people in the state. What else do you think is important for people to know?
Jaqlyn Cornejo-Baldwin:
I think it's just so important to not get caught up in fear-based thinking, especially with everything going on right now in the country where people can appear to be more divided than they are the same, that all of the solutions are definitely right in front of us and young people are the answer. And so they're the biggest investment that we have. They're going to be the ones that take care of all of us.
KC Counts:
All right. Thank you so much for spending this time with us. We appreciate it.
Jaqlyn Cornejo-Baldwin:
Thank you, KC.
