Briana Santiago Ravdin is an Equity Specialist at the Center on Culture, Race & Equity. In her work, she embraces the concept of collective impact, creating transformational partnerships that respond to the evolving needs of children while honoring the diverse experiences, contexts, and identities of all stakeholders within the educational ecosystem. Briana began her career in the nonprofit sector, supporting the strategic planning process for the Cypress Hills (Brooklyn) Promise Neighborhood initiative and building a coalition of over 20 community-based institutions as a support system for children from cradle to career. She went on to serve as the director of the initiative in its first implementation year, where she worked to improve early childhood results by expanding the reach of national home visiting programs in the Promise Neighborhood and connecting early intervention services to local child care centers. Most recently, Briana partnered closely with New York State school districts to address disproportionate suspension rates for Black and Latinx students with disabilities. In order to facilitate broader systemic change within these districts, she developed professional development and technical assistance sessions, conducted root cause analyses, and collaboratively drafted data-driven action plans to advance racial equity in student outcomes.
Briana holds a master’s degree in Education Policy & Management from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a bachelor’s degree in Teaching English (Grades 7-12) from NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
