Alumni
Sergio Barragán
Committed to June 2024, Strategy Committee
Community Services
Supervisor, City of Fontana
Sergio Barragán is the Community Services Supervisor for the City of Fontana, overseeing 35 Fontana Expanded Learning Program sites in partnership with the Fontana Unified School District, Etiwanda School District, and the Colton Joint Unified District. His role in the city is to lead and support staff in the delivery of high-quality programming to the children and youth of the community. Sergio has been in the field for over 15 years working from frontline staff to program leadership. Sergio’s dedication to the expanded learning field comes from understanding the benefits he received as a youth participant in after school activities and knowing the impact that can be provided to youth as a professional in the field. Sergio joined the California Afterschool Network to continue his commitment to making positive contributions in the field that serves youth.
Mara Welsh Mahmood
Committed to June 2024
Executive Director,
University-Community Links (UC Links), Strategy
Committee
Mara Welsh Mahmood is the Interim Executive Director for University-Community Links (UC Links), a network of university and community partners working together to develop expanded learning programs that connect K-12 young people with university faculty and students in engaging, informal learning activities. Mara has been involved with UC Links since 1996, when she was a graduate student at UC Riverside, teaching the UC Links undergraduate practicum course and serving as the site coordinator for the UC Links program at a local elementary school. Mara went on to join the UC Links statewide office in the Graduate School of Education at UC Berkeley as the Director of Site Development and Evaluation and later as Associate Director. Mara has explored, studied, and written about learning within and across multiple contexts including K-12, higher education, and after-school across California and the US, as well as out-of-school (OST) learning in São Paulo, Brazil, and other countries. Mara was motivated to join the CAN Leadership Team to leverage this unique “pandemic as portal” moment and work collaboratively to re-imagine expanded learning opportunities and rebuild the systems and structures to support California’s children, youth, families, and the OST field.
Akilah Byrd
Committed to May 2024, Leadership Development Committee
Director, Region 4 Expanded Learning Programs, Alameda County Office of Education
Akilah Byrd is currently the Director of Region 4 Expanded Learning Programs at the Alameda County Office of Education and she is the System of Support for Expanded Learning County Regional Lead providing technical assistance to 180 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) throughout the diverse San Francisco Bay Area. Akilah is an award-winning administrator and prior elementary and secondary classroom teacher who holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership with an emphasis on Social Justice in Education. In 2020, she was named the regional Elementary Principal of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators in Region 6. She was a site administrator for ten years with expanded learning partnerships. As an equity warrior, she is passionate about ensuring that her contributions help to lessen the opportunity gap for our disenfranchised students.
Luis Castellanos
Committed to June 2024, Leadership Development Committee
Assistant Program Manager, Harmonium
Luis has been involved in educational programming since he was a youth and has served in various roles and programs for over 9 years. In his youth, Luis participated and volunteered for several leadership programs and summer camps. His professional experience began in the Coachella Valley where Luis was born and raised. Immediately after high school in 2015, Luis began working for the Desert Sands Unified School District as an AVID tutor and academic specialist assisting students during the school day to achieve their academic goals. Concurrently Luis began his journey in the before and after school world by becoming a program leader with the Family YMCA of the Desert.
Natalie A. Walrond
Committed to October 2024, Strategy Committee
Area Director, Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities, WestEd
Natalie Walrond serves as the director for the Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities content area at WestEd. In this role, she oversees the growth and dissemination of the agency’s body of work related to creating safe, supportive, responsive, and equitable conditions in which every child, youth, and adult can learn, grow, and thrive. Walrond brings to her work over twenty-five years of experience in K-12 education, finance, and strategy, for both for-profit and nonprofit organizations.
Harlyn Santos
Committed to March 2023, Leadership Development Committee
Director of Programs &
Operations, Think Together
Harlyn Santos is Director of Programs and Operations for Think Together in the Santa Fe Springs Region. Harlyn has been in the Expanded Learning field for over 20 years. In her role, she leads strategically, acts intentionally, and works collaboratively across several platforms in order to ensure that students benefit from participating in OST programs. Her primary responsibility is to ensure the quality and fidelity of all programs by supporting daily operations, and oversight of the region. She collaborates with district partners and community partners to ensure that policies, procedures, and protocols are followed to benefit the students served. Harlyn was motivated to join the CAN Leadership Team because she is passionate about closing the achievement gap and giving all students an opportunity to develop as a whole. She wants to be part of the catalyst for change that is needed across our state for benefit of those in the field and for the field.
Amal Aziz
Committed to June 2023, Strategy Committee
California Regional Director, Girls Leadership
Amal has worked in the Expanded Learning field for about fifteen years, providing leadership to out-of-school time programs in non-profit, school district, and municipal organizations throughout California. Amal has received her Masters in Education with a major in Equity and Social Justice from San Francisco State University. She is currently the California Regional Director at Girls Leadership and is a serving member on the California Afterchool Network Leadership Team.
Ernesto Duran
Committed to June 2023, Finance Committee
Co-Regional Lead, Ventura County Office of Education
Christina Sepulveda
Committed to June 2023, CAN Leadership Team Co-Chair
Vice President, Boys & Girls Clubs of Garden Grove
Christina Sepulveda is the Vice President of Community Impact Programs for Boys & Girls Clubs of Garden Grove. Christina has been in youth development for 15 years and on the CAN Leadership Team since 2017 and Co-Chair since 2020. She is currently responsible for overseeing Early Learning Initiatives, Community Health Services, and Family Engagement/Outreach. She is responsible for the recruitment, coordination, and maintenance of community partnerships that foster the coordination of services for families in the community. She has a proven track record leading and facilitating community projects that build healthier communities through education, advocacy, and support. Christina’s focus in youth development has been on ‘whole-child’ models and mental health. Her strong belief in collaboration and serving the ‘whole-child’ has been a guiding philosophy throughout her career in youth development.
Andi Fletcher
Committed to June 2023, Finance Committee
Consultant, California Expanded Learning
Programs