Canutillo selected for Raise Your Hand Texas’ Community Leadership Fellowship

Raise Your Hand Texas announced that Canutillo ISD will join 28 other Texas public school districts in the inaugural cohort of the Community Leaders Fellowship, an 18-month program designed to equip educators, business leaders, school trustees and parents with the tools and skills needed to find, use and amplify their voices in state education policy.

“Canutillo ISD views the Raise Your Hand Texas Community Leaders Fellowship as a powerful opportunity to engage more deeply with our community and collaborate with state leaders to strengthen support for public education, our students and our teachers,” Superintendent Dr. Josue Borrego said.

The Community Leaders Fellowship builds on the advocacy foundation established by Raise Your Hand Texas through its Trustee Advocates Program and brings together seven to 10 participants, including at least three community members who are not school board trustees or district employees. Participants go through the program alongside educators to strengthen local advocacy efforts.

This year’s fellowship participants represent school districts with enrollments ranging from 500 to 50,000 students, each with unique needs and challenges. Together, they share a common goal of doing more for their students and communities.

“The Community Leaders Fellowship empowers Texans to become stronger public education leaders in their hometowns, directly shaping the future of their local school districts by engaging state lawmakers,” said Dr. Libby Cohen, executive director of Raise Your Hand Texas. “Public schools impact entire communities. That means the work of advocating for public education at the Texas Capitol belongs to entire communities as well. We’re excited these advocacy teams are stepping up to the challenge of bringing more hands to this important work.”

The following school districts have been selected as grant awardees for Cohort 1 of the Raise Your Hand Texas Community Leaders Fellowship:

• Abilene ISD 
• Alamo Heights ISD
• Arp ISD
• Belton ISD
• Canutillo ISD
• Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD
• Cedar Hill ISD
• Cleburne ISD 
• Comanche ISD
• Corpus Christi ISD 
• Eanes ISD 
• Early ISD
• Granbury ISD
• Gregory-Portland ISD
• Harlingen CISD
• Lake Dallas ISD 
• Lewisville ISD 
• Liberty Hill ISD
• Lyford CISD
• Martin’s Mill ISD
• North Lamar ISD 
• Paris ISD 
• Plano ISD 
• Port Aransas ISD
• San Marcos CISD
• Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD
• Shiner ISD
• Splendora ISD
• Wylie ISD (Taylor County)

The Community Leaders Fellowship is issue-based and nonpartisan. Through a combination of in-person, virtual and self-paced sessions, participating teams will develop a deeper understanding of the legislative process while strengthening skills in community engagement and sustainable advocacy.

“Our goal is to build stronger relationships between local leaders and their communities so they can work together to identify what matters most to them when it comes to public education,” said Amy Dodson, dean of advocacy for Raise Your Hand Texas. “This new model creates powerful local teams that can advocate for meaningful change for their students and teachers. We are especially proud to see alumni of our Trustee Advocates Program leading the charge in this deeper, community-based work.”

For more information about the program, visit raiseyourhandtexas.org/advancing-public-education/advocacy-fellowship.