Maritza Leal is a true community advocate who has dedicated her career to connecting families to critical information. She has lived in Redwood City for 20 years and helped establish two new schools in North Fair oaks: Rocketship and KIPP Excelencia. Her book, Nuestra Proyecto, documents her experience leading a group of parents as part of this initiative.

As Nuestra Casa’s Outreach Program Coordinator, Maritza ensures that information about essential resources, messages, and health information reaches our community members. She started as a Promotora at Nuestra Casa and now supports the team by organizing the weekly outreach schedule, producing related materials, and conducting outreach herself. Maritza and the Promotoras get to know more about our neighbors and what they need by providing this valuable service. By sharing this information with our Program Director, they directly influence Nuestra Casa’s programming. Maritza shares, “I love to do this work! And I think I will continue to do it for the rest of my days. I just love to talk to people. I love to provide them with any resources they need.”

In 2015, Maritza received the CA Charter Schools Association Parent Volunteer of the Year award. In 2021, we interviewed Maritza about her work during the early days of the COVID-19 crisis.