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.

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.

 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.