During her 10 year tenure at SFUSD and City College of San Francisco and across diverse roles she have served multi-lingual, foster youth, first-generation, historically underrepresented, and undocumented students from all districts in SF so they persist through college and thrive in career. Vanessa has also served families in SF by working with SFUSD, College of San Francisco and San Francisco State University, to build the capacity of the system's leaders by instituting regional communities of practice support service models which eliminate racism by empowering women, social workers, and individuals of color. Currently she is collaborating with several convener groups representing Mission, Bayview and Fillmore Districts.