Building Schools Where Every Student Belongs
When schools are navigating hard moments, racial harm, divided communities, and shifting political pressure, leaders should not have to carry that alone. At Rooted in Power, we do not stand on the outside looking in. We walk alongside you in it.
We bring classroom experience, lived experience, and leadership shaped in real moments, not theory. We hold a deep belief that schools can be spaces where every student is seen, supported, and able to thrive together.
Real Challenges Real Support
Schools across the country, including right here in Portland, are navigating racial harm, pressure around equity work, staff tensions, and students who need more support than ever. These are not distant or abstract issues. They are showing up every day in your hallways, your classrooms, and your boardrooms, impacting real people and real relationships. As you hold all of this, you deserve to feel supported, not isolated. You deserve partnership as you lead through it.
For Schools Facing Hard Moments
A racial incident in your building. A student walkout. A federal investigation into your equity initiatives. Staff who want to do better but don't know how. Board meetings that feel impossible. We have been in those rooms. We can help you find the path forward.
For Schools Ready to Build Something Better
You don't have to be in crisis to call us. Maybe your staff is eager for real equity training. Maybe you want to build stronger systems for BIPOC students. Maybe you want to create spaces where perspective-taking brings your whole school community closer together. We're here for that too.
Our Mission
We walk alongside educators and school leaders navigating their hardest moments racial harm, divided communities, systems that weren't built for every child, and help them build something stronger on the other side. Through crisis support, equity-centered coaching, and community-building work rooted in African American and Mexican American wisdom, we create schools where BIPOC students are protected, affirmed, and centered. Where white students learn to be true allies through perspective-taking and honest connection. Let’s be honest the divide is here and in order to close the divide we help build a community.
Our Vision
A national network of schools where every student regardless of race, background, or identity belongs, grows, and leads. Where BIPOC students are not just safe but celebrated. Where white students develop the skills to listen, understand, and stand alongside their peers. Where educators have the training and community they need to interrupt harm and build connection in the same breath. Portland is where we are rooted. The nation is where we are going.
We Know the Classroom Because We've Lived It
There are plenty of consultants who can talk about equity. There are far fewer who have spent years in classrooms protecting students, interrupting harm, and building the systems their schools were missing.
Angelina Muñoz teaches elementary students while daily interrupting the racism and microaggressions that came from well-meaning colleagues. Sade Rivers went from being a Black student without advocacy to becoming Director of Students, building affinity spaces, equity systems, and courageous conversations her school had never had.
We also know that the best schools aren't the ones that simply punish harm, they're the ones that build connections across differences. Where BIPOC students feel truly seen. Where white students learn perspective-taking not as an abstract concept but as a lived practice. Where staff have the skills to turn hard moments into growth opportunities for everyone.
When you work with Rooted in Power, you're getting partnership from people who have been where you are and who believe, deeply, that better is possible.
Support and community-building partnership for schools and organizations ready to protect, affirm, and connect every student.
Crisis Response & Healing Support
When a racial incident occurs, schools need experienced guidance to respond with accountability and care. We help you navigate the first 48 hours and beyond — protecting students, communicating with your community, and building structures to prevent recurrence.
Policy Review & Strategic Planning
Review your equity policies and student support programs with an experienced eye. We help you understand your position, protect what matters, and plan for the road ahead no matter the political climate.
What We Do
Equity-Centered Coaching for Leaders
One-on-one and small-group coaching for principals, DEI directors, and superintendents navigating challenging decisions. We help you lead with clarity, protect your students, and build sustainable systems that last.
Youth Leadership & Student Support Programs
Identity-affirming programming for BIPOC students and perspective-building spaces that bring all students together. We center student voice because young people always know what's happening before adults do.
Staff Training: Building
Skills Across Difference
Interactive, practice-based workshops for teachers and staff on recognizing harm, interrupting microaggressions, and creating classrooms where BIPOC and white students learn to truly see one another. No guilt. Just skill and human connection.
Community & Board Facilitation
Skilled facilitation for school boards, parent groups, and community stakeholders navigating hard conversations about equity. We create space for honest dialogue that builds understanding instead of division.
How We Show Up
These are not aspirational statements. They are the practices we bring into every school, every meeting, every conversation.
Ubuntu — “I Am Because We Are”
We are strongest when we move together. Every student, every educator, every family is part of the whole. We build schools where no one is left behind because our well-being is connected.
Interrupt Harm, Build Connection
We teach educators to recognize and respond to racial harm in real time in the classroom, the hallway, the staff meeting. Not through guilt, but through skill, clarity, and care that brings people closer instead of driving them apart.
In Lak'ech — “You Are My Other Me”
When we truly see one another across differences, we discover our shared humanity. Perspective-taking isn't a skill we teach — it's a practice we live, building bridges between BIPOC and white students through honest dialogue and mutual respect.
Collective Leadership
One person cannot hold a school together. We build leadership teams, staff coalitions, and community partnerships so that equity work survives transitions and grows stronger over time.
Courage to Do What's Right
The hardest conversations are the most necessary ones. We walk into rooms and say what needs to be said not to shame, but to grow. We name harm, hold accountability, and make room for healing.
Cultural Wisdom as Foundation
The knowledge our communities carry is not extra, it is the foundation. We honor African and Indigenous wisdom traditions as legitimate, powerful frameworks for creating schools where every child thrives.