Local Hero: Evelyn Aleman, Advocating for Low-Resource Students and Their Families

Nominee Name: Evelyn Aleman
Title: Founder
Organization/Business: Our Voice: Communities for Quality Education
Website

About Evelyn Aleman

Evelyn Aleman is a native and proud Los Angeleno, daughter of immigrants from El Salvador, whose advocacy is shaped by the belief that authentic collaboration between the community and government leads to better communication and successful outcomes.

Aleman has worked in the field for 30 years, beginning her career in global public affairs agencies, most notably, Edelman PR Worldwide, where she joined the team that launched L.A.’s recycling program and expansion of the LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal. She later served as policy and press deputy for LA City Councilmember Antonio Villaraigosa, and government affairs manager for First 5 L.A., advocating for children ages 0-5 in Los Angeles and Sacramento.

Today, her work continues to focus on quality-of-life issues, including education, health, the environment, small business development, financial empowerment and more. In her professional practice, Ms. Aleman’s advocacy is particularly notable in education. Her calls for equity and inclusion of parent and student voices in education are frequently found in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, EdSource, LA School Report and in her columns in La Opinión. Her work supports expansion of after school and summer programs, quality instruction, tutoring, college prep, school choice and parent and student empowerment.

In March 2020, while experiencing COVID symptoms and isolating for eight weeks, Aleman saw first-hand the difficulties her youngest daughter faced when losing personal contact with her school community. Lack of support from district leaders and inaccessibility to resources for her daughter revealed inequities in public education heightened by the pandemic and made her aware of challenges faced by low-resource immigrant families.

For this reason, in September 2020, she launched the initiative “Our Voice: Communities for Quality Education” on Facebook, a social media platform already popular among Latinx families. Our Voice is a bilingual (English-Spanish) online community primarily focused on supporting and empowering Latino and Indigenous immigrant families in their advocacy for quality education. As founder, Aleman mentors and closely works with parents. She provides a paid internship for college students who are also mentored and help curate Facebook and Instagram content offering free resources.

Today, Our Voice is a strategic partner of the L.A. Unified School District, and an important advocate for quality education, safe schools, broadband for all, and improved communication between schools and immigrant families.