Introducing Alexis Cabrera, 9 Dots New Executive Director
Dear Colleagues, Partners, and Supporters,
I am writing to you today as the new Executive Director of 9 Dots. In truth, it is an interesting year to become the head of an organization like 9 Dots. As is the case with many educational organizations, we have faced a range of challenges since the pandemic hit. Sometimes it’s laughable. One instructor told me recently of a classroom interruption that came in the form of a student jumping on a trampoline—that’s something you don’t hear often. Oftentimes, it’s distressing and makes you feel powerless. Teachers are spending their personal time prepping for class, students are passing long hours at a computer screen, and the fatigue is sometimes palpable.
Sadly it is not just these online challenges that make 2020 difficult, it’s the heaviness of the air. The pandemic has highlighted the inequities that have plagued our core institutions for centuries—from education, to healthcare, to policing and prisons. Our community understands that none of this is new, and all of this is urgent.
I wanted to start by acknowledging this not because I want to fill your inbox with more news about how the pandemic has affected our lives, but to appreciate that this is the climate which informs my perspective as I step into the role of Executive Director.
At its core, 9 Dots represents the powerful belief that we can work together to create more equitable opportunities for the youth in our communities through access to a quality computer science education. As a proud Southern California native, as one of five kids growing up in a low income family, and as a queer mixed raced woman who has been told both explicitly and implicitly that computer science is not for me, I am incredibly honored and humbled to now head the organization whose entire mission is about flipping this script.
I’ve had the privilege of working at 9 Dots for nearly three years now. I started as an instructor with a boatload of passion and only half an understanding of what it took to teach a classroom of students. Though I had previously taught high school students, elementary school is a whole different ball game. I don’t think we acknowledge it enough: some of our students are learning to code at the age of four!
In my first year, there were some rocky starts — like the time when my kindergarten class burst out in uncontrollable laughter when I said “debug” and they thought I said “da-butt.” But the support I received from 9 Dots’ staff and from the site teachers with whom I worked made all the difference. I brought the CS knowledge and my site teachers, many of whom have been teaching for 15+ years, brought the lived instructional expertise.
Ms. Duong and Ms. Aceves—both never scared to tell their students when they didn’t know something—taught me how to keep growth mindset front and center in our lessons. Mr. Fein and Ms. Luevano expertly made connections between computer science concepts and other areas of class like morning routines or informative writing. Ms. Rashidi helped me regain student attention after the debug-butt debacle. I felt a similar sense of mutual support from principals the following year, when I became a program manager and then program director.
Our work has and continues to be built on partnerships. It’s relationships like these that make our work a community effort. They are the magic sauce.
When I think about where I’d like to see 9 Dots in the future, the answer lies right here in the work that we are doing now. It is my goal to take these powerful pieces of our program and improve and expand upon them until every single Title I elementary school student in Los Angeles County has access to a transformative computer science education.
I don’t have to tell you all how frustrating it is to see that even after nearly 5 years of conducting and releasing tech diversity reports, few gains have been made for Black and Latinx individuals. The work we do to create opportunities enabling our students to enter the innovation economy is the real, long term work that is needed to diversify the face of tech.
Right now we are serving close to 8,000 students and 292 teachers across 20 school sites with 94% of our students being of color. Our teachers are trailblazing the way as some of the first elementary school teachers to teach a full CS curriculum during the school day. Thanks to them, we had 79% of our students identify as a coder and 80% report they wanted to learn more about coding last year. These powerful successes energize me to imagine a future where LA County, our own backyard, is a beacon for equitable access to early computer science education.
There will be challenges. This is going to take time—decades even. There are over a thousand Title I elementary schools in LA County and we will not sacrifice quality for quantity as we grow.
But by working together we have the opportunity to empower our students to see themselves in the expanding field of computer science—and that is what I’m here to fight for.
Our work continues to be possible because of generous supporters like you. If you'd like to donate to support our work at this critical time for children's education, you can do so here. I want to thank Amy Iorio, my predecessor, Josh Taylor, our founder, our Board of Directors, and the entire 9 Dots team for supporting me as I transition into this role. I also want to give a huge special thanks to the teachers and principals who have supported us along the way.
Our strength is our ability to build power & shape change together. Let’s get to work.
Most Sincerely,
Alexis Cabrera, 9 Dots Executive Director