education 4 liberation network
Our multidisciplinary approach has been intentionally developed with support from a network of students, educators, cultural workers, and service providers. They share our values and provide us with critical feedback to our project’s development. Together we identify, design, and implement the most effective best practices, asset-based approaches, and methodologies to support youth in reclaiming their narrative. Our vision is to stimulate their individual and collective imagination for the social transformation of their communities.
Artnelson Concordia
Former SFUSD Ethnic Studies Coordinator
Artnelson was born and raised in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA (Tongva land) and is the son of working-class, Filipino immigrant parents. He is the father of four boys and is in cahoots with his wife to raise them to be active disrupters of the white-supremacist, patriarchal, hetero-normative, imperialist hegemony. Artnelson is a long-time educator and was a founding teacher of SFUSD’s Ethnic Studies program that was the focus of a 2014 Stanford study that highlighted the academic benefits of the district’s 9th grade ethnic studies class. Currently, he coordinates Santa Barbara Unified School District's (SBUSD) Ethnic Studies program. Also, Artnelson is working to bring quality and critical ethnic studies to all young people in the state as a founding member of the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (LESMC), a collaborative of ethnic studies practitioners and scholars.
Gustavo Lopez
Educator, Organizer, Deejay -Prime Frequency
Gustavo is a Bay Area native raised in South San Francisco. He has been a community organizer since 1996, advancing social justice work that encompasses criminal justice, im/migrant rights, youth development, Ethnic Studies, and educational equity. He is the Assistant Director of Student Services with Metro College Success Program at San Francisco State University, serving first-generation students. Gustavo owns his own mobile DJ company, Prime Frequency, to which he often donates time to support local community organizations. He provides his skills as a cultural worker (aka: DJ Aztlan), educator, and organizer by providing access to music, education and critical consciousness. Since 2017 Gustavo has facilitated curriculum at Willie Brown Middle School, while sharing his professional networks to support our organizational development, curriculum, and fundraising efforts.
Diego Irizarry
Precita Eyes Muralist
Diego is an artist and educator dedicated to cultivating creative expression among youth and his peers, which is structured around health, knowledge, and understanding. For over 9 years he has been deeply engaged in the Hip-Hop cultural scene in the Bay Area, as a means of expressing systemic injustices and developing a sense of identity. Through his work with Precita Eyes he has been able to guide and facilitate the youth in creating murals in schools and in the streets of San Francisco and activating their autonomy. He mentors middle school and high school students, teaching the roots of Hip-Hop and graffiti culture, and helps develop their skills in art and muralism. Diego has organized community and youth art shows in the Mission District, which enable him and others to develop deep connections to the people and the land.
Tina Sataraka
Artist, Social Worker - Case Manager at Samaritan House
Tina is a young leader raised in Bayview and Sunnydale. While attending Balboa High in 2012, she first met co-founders as a spoken word artist and emerging organizer mobilizing for justice in communities of color. Her leadership in the citywide coalition helped win policy to make MUNI Free for Youth in 2014. Tina received her AA in Psychology in 2016, later graduating in 2019 from Humboldt State University with a Bachelor's in Social Work and Comparative Ethnic Studies. She believes that solidarity across communities is a critical element of developing the skills, empathy, creativity, and critical thinking. She dreams of building healthier communities mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Tina is currently working as at the Safe Harbor Shelter, and she plans to pursue graduate school in Social Work and Public Health, to better serve her community.
Reynaldo Novicio Jr.
Producer, Artist, Mental Health Advocate
“FriscoPinx” also known as Mister Rey, he is an artist, music producer, father, community cultural worker, and mental health advocate. Born in Makati City, Philippines, he immigrated to the U.S. when he was 12yrs old, and found a home in the Mission District. As an urban immigrant youth, he adopted a Hip Hop identity that has become the impetus for his activism and a framework for community. He has collaborated with fellow local heavyweight artists and community workers, including Denizen Kane, Nomi of Power Struggle, RO3LAY and Ruby Ibarra. Rey is a committee member of UndiscoveredSF, also serving as the stage and program managing for Barrio Fiesta. He’s been an advisory to 5 Elements since inception, providing substantial experience to us in organizing cultural projects and programs serving Pacific Islander youth in San Francisco.
Nancy Hernandez
Organizer, Educator - Trust Your Struggle Artist Collective
Nancy has dedicated more than two decades to incorporating arts into movements in the Bay Area. As a youth development specialist, educator, organizer, cultural worker she has led student walkouts against California's anti-immigrant Prop 187, and won Ethnic Studies in Bay Area high schools. She’s a member of Trust Your Struggle Artist Collective, artivists who use muralism as a tool for storytelling and creative documentation of working class fights for social and environmental justice. She was the former arts educator at the Estria Foundation and with Precita Eyes Muralists, and former Manager of Youth Services at Good Samaritan Family Resource Center. For the past decade she has taught at June Jordan High School, a small public social justice-focused school in the Excelsior District.
