Kara Bobroff
Executive Director
One Generation
Kara Bobroff (Navajo/Lakota), Ed.S., is a lifelong educator, leader, and activist with more than 25 years of experience serving her community. As the Executive Director of One Generation, she is supporting local communities in transformative solution-building that reflects Indigenous values and builds on community assets. In this role, she brings resources, technical assistance, and high-impact practices rooted in equity to locally-led programs and initiatives in such sectors as education, land access, food sovereignty, language preservation and revitalization, and youth development. Kara’s work builds on her career in education, most recently as Deputy Secretary of Identity, Equity, and Transformation for the New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED). At NMPED, Kara led the state’s work in promoting student learning and growth aligned with the intent of the Hispanic Education Act, Indian Education Act, and Bilingual-Multicultural Education Act. Kara was named to this role in January 2019, following her experience in creating schools of academic excellence and cultural relevance for Native American students in New Mexico and other regions of the country. In 2005, she earned an Echoing Green Fellowship during which she engaged the larger Albuquerque community toward the creation of the Native American Community Academy (NACA) in 2006, now an award-winning public charter school dedicated to Native American student success. Under her leadership as Founding Principal, NACA was recognized as a model for effective Indigenous education by the New Mexico Indian Education Sub-Committee; by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) as a Breakthrough School — 1 of 10 schools in the country for its ability to promote high achievement in spite of serving a large number of students living in poverty (2012 and 2017); and as an Ashoka Changemaker School for its work in developing empathetic leaders (2015). Kara expounded on this success as the Executive Director of the NACA Inspired Schools Network (NISN), created in 2015 as the first school network in the nation that is focused on improving Native American education, using NACA’s success as a model and guide for a comprehensive fellowship and community engagement program. Network schools are in New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Colorado. She was awarded a Pahara-Aspen Fellowship (2015), Broad Academy Educational Leadership Fellowship (2017), and an Ashoka Changemaker Fellowship (2018) for her work in creating culturally responsive learning opportunities through educational environments and curricular relevance, and in training teachers and educational leaders. Kara’s leadership in education led to an appointment on President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, where she served during 2015-16. She has also been recognized with the Zia Award for University of New Mexico alumni for distinguished service in the field of education, as a “Woman of Influence” by Albuquerque Business First, as a recipient of the New Mexico Ethics in Business Award, and as a recipient of the Excellence in Educational Leadership Award sponsored by the University Council for Educational Administration. Her volunteer roles include as an advisory board member for Harvard Urban Principal Center, New Mexico Dream Team, NM Now, and Explora Children’s Museum, among others.