Expanded Learning Ecosystem Plan Strategic Design

Contact Vanessa

Hi, I’m Vanessa Hernandez, a Senior Specialist at the California AfterSchool Network. For nearly two decades, I’ve accompanied youth, youth development practitioners, non profit leaders, and communities across schools, community based organizations, housing, out-of-school time programs, and statewide after school systems of support in California and Washington.

I help steward the Ecosystem Plan design process, where I get to weave together many of the roles I’ve held throughout my life and career. To me, this alive and relational body of work is about tending the relationships that make an ecosystem possible. I see this work as an extension of every role I play in the ecosystem of youth care, creating stronger connections between the systems that serve young people and the communities that know and love them.

One practice I am continually embodying is remembering our interconnectedness. I believe our relationship with land teaches us how healthy ecosystems adapt, evolve, and thrive. I do my best to bring those same practices of reciprocity, responsibility, and care into my leadership, trusting that strong relationships help us navigate complexity and create the conditions for young people and communities to flourish.