Broad Alumni Spotlight: Danneka Mitchell (TBM 2023-24)

What’s your current organization and role?

I am the director of strategic initiatives at KIPP Schools in New Orleans.

I’m an attorney by training, but after I graduated from law school I knew immediately I didn’t want to practice. So I got a job in education. First I worked with a teacher leader program called Leading Educators, helping with operations and logistics. Through that, I wound up working for the charter network FirstLine, and then KIPP.

What most excites you in your professional role?

Right now, I get to think about what’s best for our organization as a whole and help codify our systems so that we can get where we want to go in the future. I’m also really excited about building partnerships and helping us become more involved in the community. How do we put all the pieces together, decide what outcome we want, and then achieve it? The Broad program really helped me think about things like that in a more strategic way, and I use the skills I learned every day at work.

How has your experience as a Broad alum influenced the way you approach your work?

Broad taught me to think about equity in every part of what we do. You can’t really silo equity within the classroom; it lives in every piece and facet of what your organization does.

I also learned to use Excel like nobody’s business, and I can make a theory of action in a minute. Those are things we learned directly from our professors at Broad.

And the network. Being able to reach out to people to discuss issues that come up—you learn you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Somebody has done what you’re trying to do, and learning best practices in different systems can elevate what you’re doing. Some of my cohort members and fellow alumni—these are really important people who are very, very busy. To have so many people who are willing to open their door to you speaks to the wealth of the Broad network.

How is your organization working to increase equity for the students and communities you serve?

In my district, we’re really intentional about making sure students have access to pathways and associate’s degrees prior to graduation. Our high school students have the opportunity to attend Bard Early College, where they can earn up to 60 college credits in programs that we’ve paid for. When they graduate from our high schools, they go into college as a junior, decreasing their student loan debt by two years. We also have programs where students can get industry credentials. Our expectation is that you leave here fully ready to be a contributing member of society.

We want our students to go to college, but we understand they have to make choices. I had to work through college; my sister got her certified nurse aide license in high school and was able to use that to pay her bills during college. If you can get industry credentials in high school, the job you get while you’re in college will pay you more—and that helps the entire family.

What do you think school system leaders should be thinking more about right now?

Given the climate we’re in right now, system leaders have to be thinking about how we educate the populace so students are informed about our history and about what democracy looks like. We should be teaching our kids to become informed voters engaged in the political process. We see so much happening in the world right now, and it can feel like there’s nothing we can do. But we can educate our kids and make sure that we are focusing on advocacy, community, and allyship.

Kids look to us to navigate the scariness of the world. When I was growing up, my mom was so busy just trying to take care of us. There were so many things I was curious about, but I didn’t want to bother her because she was busy or tired. So when kids have questions about what’s going on, we have to make space for them in our schools and answer those questions.