Isabel Gonzalez

Isabel Gonzalez and her dogs Peanut and Butter

Isabel Gonzalez is the Director of School-Based Programs at the Oakland Leaf Foundation, one of SCORES’ lead agency partners. We talked to Isabel about her own educational path, the power of public performance, and the deeply restorative work SCORES has facilitated for East Oakland students.

Your professional life is now focused on school-based programs in the afterschool arena, working with East Oakland elementary and middle schools. What was your own educational journey? 

I grew up in East Oakland and went to a public elementary school here and then a public charter school for middle and high school. 

At UC Santa Cruz, I majored in feminist studies with an emphasis in law, politics, and social change. I chose that major was because of an incredibly impactful critical media afterschool program I was involved with in high school called YouthRoots, where we also talked about gender identity. The program was offered through the Oakland Leaf Foundation, where I work today. 

YouthRoots helped me develop a sense of identity and awareness. I learned what it means to be a woman in East Oakland and in society in general, and how a lot of what makes up a person is complex and intersectional. To really understand someone or who we are as people, you have to take into account all these different factors. I became an intern in the program, and that led to other youth leadership roles, including leading sessions for my fellow high schoolers. Our sessions involved asking check-in questions that felt really relevant, that we as a group felt like we really wanted to answer and engage in. 

When I was in high school, Oakland was experiencing a lot of injustices and violence, and we wanted to talk about our community. YouthRoots gave me an outlet for self-expression to process what was happening around me. 

After college, I came back to work at Oakland Leaf and have been with the organization for eight years. Last year I earned my master’s degree in organizational leadership at Mills College of Northeastern. 

When did you first get involved with SCORES? And what made the program a good fit for the students you serve? 

I was first introduced to SCORES about five years ago when I was working as the site manager at two of our schools. We started partnering with SCORES to provide our 3rd-5th graders the soccer and poetry components, which at the time sounded a little crazy. Like, how do they go together? But actually, it was just what we needed to get the students excited about literacy. Mixing it with a sport they enjoy - like soccer - really worked.  Now we have SCORES at six of our East Oakland schools. 

Let’s get more into that kind of crazy combination - soccer and poetry. Can you give an example of how you saw it working? 

At the start, we just thought, let’s see how this works. We discovered that while poetry and soccer aren’t super intersectional in the way they show up in the SCORES curriculum, they do function in support of each other. There are students who really enjoy the literacy component of poetry who get really creative with their writing and expression. And there are those who especially enjoy the sports aspect of it. So we have a program that caters to the variety of needs that our students have. 

The students see SCORES as an extended community, though it’s the same students in their regular classes who are part of their soccer teams and poetry classes. But there’s an added component, and that’s the Saturday game days, where the students play against other up school teams. It’s exciting for them, and the gamedays provide them with yet another outlet. 

Last year I worked in a support capacity quite a bit at EnCompass Academy, which is one of Oakland Leaf’s schools. Our fourth and fifth graders were having a very difficult time because they had experienced a lot of transitions with adults in their educational space. A lot of people came and left, and this is a population that requires that extra love, right? These are kids we make sure to show that we’re here for them. 

SCORES was part of what kept them grounded and together because the kids knew Coach Kevin would come and visit. They were so, so excited to practice their poems or have soccer practice with Coach Kevin. It was something that remained consistent for them throughout a period of uncertainty. SCORES kept them in that positive space.

I’d love to go back to your earlier point, about how being part of your high school program gave you an outlet for self-expression. Do you draw connections from your own experience to inform the work you do today with students today? 

Absolutely. When I went through that program, I was a very shy and introverted person. My mentor at the time had us all write some spoken word poems, ones that really described who we were as people. And then he took us to an open mic in Oakland — it was a big surprise to us – and he said, “You’re next.” He threw us up there and said, “I just want you all to show the world the power that your stories and voices have.” 

He told us that we could break out of our bubbles and that it was fine to be scared or shy. Because you can also get up there and speak, even while you’re experiencing these emotions. And it was true. I did get really nervous, and I still get nervous speaking publicly. But it’s something I take on with confidence because I know that I can. 

Because of that experience, I can draw connections with our poets in America SCORES. I tell them, this is my story. You can tell your story. This is a great opportunity to tell the world who you are and to express yourself through a poem you were able to very intentionally, carefully, and powerfully write. 

Can you talk more about how an afterschool program can foster community, and by extension, what being part of a community means? 

By community, I mean students being surrounded by people who celebrate them and want them to thrive and do well in whatever activity they participate in. So with soccer, on our Saturday Game Days, families from all across Oakland can come and cheer for every student, just as the coaches do. The students are part of something, so there’s a sense of belonging that’s developed through participation in weekend practices and then the weekend game. 

With poetry, being part of a group working together builds momentum. At first, the students are just exploring; they’re writing about themselves and learning what poetry is. Soon they’re submitting poems and thinking about being part of the Poetry Slam. Many of our Oakland students have participated in the slams. They experience what it’s like to perform in front of a theater filled with people and how it feels to be part of a community of young Oakland poets. They’re meeting different students from other elementary schools, and they’re all there with a shared purpose. 

To read more Five Questions With interviews, go here