Esther Rosario
Biography
In 1995 in the position of local resident and “parking lot Mom”, I began my involved at the grassroots level to influence our local schools and city to address an unmet need of child care resources for working families in Riverbank. In 1998, I was hired as the coordinator of the Healthy Start Planning Initiative and lead the formation of the Riverbank Community Collaborative. The Collaborative was born with the goal of ensuring community and schools are working together to address needs, to ensure resources and services are viable and sustainable, and to recruit courageous members that will ensure child and families are at the center of all decisions. Working with local resources and the county Welfare to Work Initiative, Riverbank began to forge community-wide support to build and create after school care programs for youth and their families (Project
ACTION – Afterschool Care Together In Our Neighborhoods), create a hub of information and resources for the community. The collaborative, inclusive of youth, began designing after school programs for kids and oversaw the development of a family resource center built by the local ROP youth construction program at Riverbank High School.
From 2001 - 2004, I was recruited by the Stanislaus COE to help form an after school care consortium and act as Regional Lead for Healthy Start. I was involved with the design of the local after school evaluation tools used by the county today, facilitated workshops for program development and parent leadership, wrote grants for enrichment, health, and nutrition enhancement programs, and participated in numerous youth prevention efforts. I worked to highlight after school programs as a deterrent for at risk youth, promote the engagement of local and county elected officials and advocate for programs to be designed by individual community needs via a collaborative process.
In 2004, I returned to Riverbank as Director of Healthy Start Services to restructure the governance structure of the local collaborative, lead the development of local policies supporting after school programs and to solidify participation with the Stanislaus COE Project SAFE Consortium, local community service and business partnerships, parents, clergy, county child care planning council, local health providers and many more so that children and families needs are valued and supported. The Riverbank Collaborative exists today working together to ensure after school care remains a priority, continues to exist in every school site K-12 within the Riverbank Unified School District, and fosters quality programs that support the development of youth leadership.
In addition to my role as Director of Healthy Start Services, in 2004 I participated in the Great Valley Center’s IDEAL (Institute for the Development of Emerging Area Leaders) Program to strengthen my capacity for effective public policy decision-making impacting the economic, social and environmental future of the Central Valley. At the end of this vigorous leadership development program, I was recruited and remain a member of the IDEAL training team. I have co-lead a successful local school facilities bond initiative, participated in the campaign team of a local superintendent race and am an active member of initiatives that protect and support children and their families. I speak annually at Chapman University and CSU Stanislaus to emerging educators and social workers on the significance of community organizing to influence policy and to advocate for the change they long to see in the world today.