At KConnect, we believe that those closest to the challenges, such as educators, students, and families, are also closest to the solutions. That’s why we intentionally create space for educator voice to inform our strategy and advocacy efforts across Kent County and beyond, driving systemic change.
Our work is also fueled by the perspectives of educators through the Michigan Education Policy Fellowship, a program that places passionate educators with policy organizations to lead real-world, impact-driven projects. At KConnect, two current fellows, Dr. Christopher Cadogan of Lansing Public Schools and Yara Barbosa of East Kentwood High School, are bringing their classroom wisdom into our systems-level conversations, helping to bridge the gap between practice and policy to achieve systemic change.
This dynamic duo is featured in the latest episode of our podcast, PACE Forward, where we explore the powerful intersection of education and policy. Their conversation dives into the realities of teaching, the importance of equity in advocacy, and how their fellowship is fueling systemic change at both local and statewide levels.
And if you’re looking for an even deeper dive, don’t miss Yara Barbosa’s recent Op-Ed: How Can Educators and their Communities Use a Collective Impact Model to Make America Care About the Future of this Nation?, which you can find below. It’s a powerful reflection on the role of educators not just in the classroom, but in leading transformative change in our communities.
Educator voice isn’t just something we value, it’s something we center. Because when teachers lead, systems listen.
How Can Educators and their Communities Use a Collective Impact Model to Make America Care about the Future of this Nation?
By Yara Barbosa, High School ELA Teacher and KConnect Policy Fellow
May 28, 2025
In today’s political and social climate, Americans are currently asking themselves: How can I impact my community and have my voice heard? This article will explore that question, with a focus on education, policy, and collective impact.
I’d like to ask you to recall what 2020 and 2021 felt like to you. I know… my brain often skips those years as well. Some might have fond memories of having more time to bake bread, go hiking, and do home improvement projects. Others, however, had starkly different experiences, like having to scramble to find new jobs, missing lifetime milestones, and losing their homes and loved ones. Despite differing experiences, one uniting factor was the collective understanding that we were all going through a history-altering event together. We all had shared a feeling of uncertainty for what would happen to the future of not just our country, but the world.
Now, in May of 2025, instead of that feeling of togetherness through yet another chaotic time for our nation, there is the opposite: Americans are more divided now than ever before, and our communities are hurting. KConnect’s Data Dashboard provides insight into Kent County’s thriving family income, which highlights a continuously wide wage gap between black and white families. Moreover, while high school graduation rates are increasing, post-secondary readiness for students is on the decline. This data is disheartening, especially thinking toward the future of our country.
As a public school teacher and policy fellow, I hold a unique perspective and lived experience in two worlds that impact one another, but don’t often collide: the classroom and the policy-making spaces.
What Educator Burnout Really Means
I teach for Kentwood Public Schools, the most diverse district in the state of Michigan and sixth in the nation. I teach English to general education students, but I am also a Multilingual Learner teacher, which means many of my students are immigrants who are learning English as a second (or third, or fourth) language. My students are unique, and it takes special individuals to teach them. Many students see their school as more than just a place to learn, but a safe space with trusted adults who provide resources, consistently advocate for their wellbeing, and offer love and support beyond their normal obligations. There is, however, only so much a single educator can do.
In the current state of education, teachers and staff are experiencing an unbalanced list of expectations that only continues to grow. Across the nation, teachers are speaking out on the struggle to teach amidst the technology addiction epidemic. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that accountability for students’ learning and academic integrity always falls on the teacher while every other aspect of the student’s environment and upbringing are ignored. Outside of the classroom, societal and administrative expectations for teachers have also increased, but the time and compensation to fulfill those duties has not.
Teachers are not treated as highly skilled professionals when it comes to salaries. When compared to other professions that require the same level of education, teachers are severely underpaid. More than half of all public school teachers in America hold a Master’s Degree or higher, “but teachers have not reaped the salary benefits of higher education. Despite their high level of education, the median teacher is paid similarly to the median earner who completed just a bachelor’s” (USAFacts, 2023). This unfortunate reality leads many teachers to take a second job, which negatively impacts quality of life and further dilutes time for family, friends, and personal well-being.
Newer teachers are also dealing with record high amounts of student loan debt, as the cost of higher education has skyrocketed, leaving teachers scrambling to make payments with salaries that do not match their level of education. Melanie Hanson states, “Over the past 20 years, the cost of higher education in America has risen significantly, with tuition and fees at public four-year institutions increasing by about 141% and private institutions by 181.3%, outpacing inflation” (Hanson, 2024). Teachers who have also been promised the path of public service loan forgiveness are finding themselves denied the opportunity to participate in the program due to the government’s freeze of income-based repayment plan applications, myself included.
These factors are just the beginning of a long list of reasons teachers are leaving the profession entirely, which leaves America scrambling for uncertified bodies to fill empty, unwanted seats. So, how could we possibly ask teachers to take on any more and advocate for change?
It Truly Takes a Village: What is Collective Impact and Why is it Worth Our Time?
Collective Impact isn’t just another trendy term that is going to catch on at Professional Developments; it is truly the heart of how we can create systemic change. “Collective impact is a network of community members, organizations, and institutions who advance equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population and systems level change” (Collective Impact Forum, 2025).
As I sat through many workshops and webinars regarding the big “what can we do?” question, the responses generally included the same themes: time, togetherness, and humanity. We need to give our time, gather people who share similar outlooks, and treat every person we come across, especially the ones with different beliefs, as humans first.
In our capitalistic society, everyone knows that “time is money.” This way of living creates pressure on the average person to continuously be “productive,” with the core issue being that if something isn’t creating revenue, it shouldn’t be invested in. This type of mentality is especially dangerous because it dissuades people from spending their time doing things like volunteering and advocating for the greater good. It is crucial we break away from the mindset that we don’t have enough time for things we care about – we just need to allocate our time appropriately. It takes time to educate oneself on the current local and federal bills, learn who is in the seats of power, and when/how you can voice your opinion on the matter. While there are many resources available including meetings and webinars with organizations who dedicate their platform to educating the public, it once again takes time to attend those, ask the questions, and carve out a personal plan. So, how do we make this whole advocacy thing “worth” our time? Well, when advocacy creates action, it makes all of the preparation worth our time.
Taking impactful action requires togetherness. We need to be having conversations with others in our communities, even if the idea of meeting new people and having these types of conversations makes us a little uncomfortable. Change was never made when one was completely comfortable. Ask yourself: how often do I go to local community gatherings and have meaningful conversations where I then follow up and get a group together to continue these discussions? This requires energy, time, follow-through, motivation, and perseverance. THIS is why a nation divided is easier to rule: because many people think it’s out of their hands and it’s easier to say “it is what it is” than actually take ownership of the fact that WE are the people that make up our nation, and WE have a voice.
It is vital, however, that we recognize that the opposing view is also human. There is no point in trying to dehumanize someone who doesn’t share your same beliefs – the media is already doing that just fine. What matters most is that when you speak on your beliefs, you speak with intention to educate a human being by finding some sort of common ground to start, and simply with the focus of trying to understand who they are and where they are coming from. Don’t let the media or politicians control the narrative. We have more in common than they want us to think.
Here are some quick notes on what I’ve done and what you can do to start your advocacy journey:
- Commit to lifetime learning outside of Professional Development. Set aside time weekly to educate yourself and cultivate a plan of action. You don’t have to do this work alone, but it starts with your own intentional commitment.
- Take time to explore the different assets in your community and in the communities of your students. Volunteer your time with organizations and events that help you stay rooted in the beauty and the needs of your community. Theo Miller from Equity and Results states in a Collective Impact Podcast, “…the local keeps us rooted. Being in proximity to those who are most impacted keeps us grounded…”
- Activate your advocacy efforts beyond social media. Attend in-person and virtual events that offer spaces to learn, speak about, and demonstrate what is most valuable to you as an individual and an educator. The energy and fulfillment you feel after speaking out for what you believe in is so empowering. It is the fuel for many long stretches of work to make our communities better.
- Intentionally seek out good news. Despite the chaos we see on news headlines, there are still so many good things happening globally, and it’s important to make sure you are allowing yourself to take in positive headlines just as much as the divisive ones. Follow accounts like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to see how many people are coming together all over the world to make a difference.
Whether you’re an educator or not, we are all feeling the panic and uneasiness in the air as a country because the unknown can be quite terrifying. This is precisely why we need to invest in our collective impact work now more than ever before. As Dr. Shayla Young from KConnect said, “There is not just one sector that can solve the problem.” We are a collective whole, and we need to take action.
If you are an educator in Kent County and wondering how you might start to think about your role in the larger context of systems work, I encourage you to check out the KConnect Network. This cross-sector, system-building initiative has multiple ways that you can engage in collective action to ensure quality education for our children. If we engage in our communities, advocate for what we believe, and ensure our collective voice is heard, we can begin to create a village where well-being for all is the core goal and value.
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