SPECIALIZATIONS
The work of Avanza Strategies has resulted in successful partnerships with a variety of organizations across the nation. While unique in their needs, every organization has been successfully supported to achieve the impact they seek for the communities they serve.
Program Strategy
Harlem Village Academies - New York, NY
K-12 network of 5 schools
Project: Developed strategy, metrics, and benchmarks for college counseling and alumni support departments, built 2 new college team roles, coached 7 team members to drive student outcomes, and collaborated with school principal and CEO to revamp practices.
Outcomes: 97% of the 2018 Senior class enrolled in college for the Fall 2018. 25% of the Senior class enrolled in the most competitive colleges in the nation (Highly and Most Competitive). This is the highest percentage of HVA students doing so in their 7-year history and is more than double the rate of what they achieved 5 of those 7 years.
UtmostU, Gary Comer Youth Center - Chicago, IL
College persistence support organization
Project: Executed a search for a new Senior Director role at UtmostU that included outreach to over 40 non-profit and education leaders in Chicago; all outreach was based on personal and secondary contacts.
Outcomes: Recruited the strongest group of finalists the organization had seen for a leadership role that resulted in a split of the intended role; instead of a Senior Director, a high-quality Associate Executive Director was hired, and a Network Manager role was added as a direct result of the high-quality group of finalists.
Program Development
Alpha Public Schools - San Jose, CA
K-12 network of 5 schools, founding 3rd year of high school
Project: Built and support implementation of a high-impact college counseling model for their high school which at the time was in their 3rd year of development (the first graduating class were Juniors at the start of our partnership).
Outcomes: National scan of high impact college access and success models resulted in a model recommendation for the APS context. Mapped out an 18-month project plan to build their college counseling model and coached college counseling team members to prepare Juniors for the college application process. 100% of Juniors wrote a personal statement, requested at least 1 teacher letter of recommendation, and had a high Institutional Graduation Rate (IGR) college list in preparation for Senior year. As of March 2019, 100% of their first graduating class has been accepted into at least one 4-year college.
East College Prep - Los Angeles, CA
9-12 network of 5 schools, founding 4th year of high school
Project:
Building an 11th grade college success strategy and curriculum, whilst aiding 12th grade and alumni transition support strategy to ensure the first graduating class is set up for success.
Outcomes: Developed programmatic goals and mapped a semester-long 11th grade college prep workshop series to ensure the class was supported to develop a strong fit and match college list, requested letters of recommendation, and wrote first drafts of their college essays. Coached the college counselor to develop a college transition workshop series for 12th grade students, as well as to develop stronger internal systems of support and data tracking for both 11th and 12th grade students.
Program Evaluation
One Million Degrees - Chicago, IL
Community college student support organization program evaluation
Project: Implemented a market analysis and revision of OMD’s recruitment strategy in order to support recruitment and retention of students from their lowest enrollment community colleges in Chicago’s south side. The process included implementation of student focus groups, OMD recruitment data analysis and synthesis, as well as a full evaluation of their onboarding practices.
Outcomes: Developed 10 major recommendations for One Million Degrees to support them in the refinement of their marketing strategies and to more explicitly frame messaging and recruitment that targets the populations they aim to serve. Also developed recommendations to revise their scholar engagement and onboarding process to improve retainment of students who begin applications for their program.
Aspira Inc. of Illinois - Chicago, IL
Grades 2-8 after-school program evaluation
Project: Collect evidence of Aspira's program impact based on the ISBE 21st Century Community Learning Center Goals and Objectives.
Outcomes: Developed a program evaluation for impact assessment aligned to ISBE requirements that included student performance data collection and analysis, focus group data collection, and a program model analysis report with recommendations for future program effectiveness based on evaluation results. Also provided recommendations for future data collection practices that will ease future program evaluations.
WHAT OUR PARTNERS THINK
“Grisel has helped Namaste develop systems to measure impact and make data informed decisions that benefit Namaste students and Alumni. She has offered continuous communication, and programmatic support that has helped me grow and learn both professionally and personally.”
Mercedes Alvear / Alumni Transition Coordinator / Namaste Charter School
“Grisel has been an essential partner in developing Alpha's college success program. She has led program design efforts, provided our board with the information they needed to make good decisions, and supported school staff in executing effectively. Grisel has helped us build the capacity we needed in order to keep the promises we made to scholars and families.”
John Glover / Founder & CEO / Alpha Public Schools
"Grisel has been working with HVA High for the last year and a half and in this short period of time she has brought rigor, expertise and direction to our college program while building strong relationships with both teachers and students. She brings deep knowledge of the college process coupled with streamlined organization tools that make it easy for principals to track student progress in real time and direct college counselors strategically."
Abe Correa / Principal / Harlem Village Academy High
