Pecolia Manigo is an organizer and authentic leader; but most importantly a black mother. Through her journey as a native San Franciscan and Oakland resident, she has developed a keen awareness on a variety of subject matters, issues and world affairs. By the time she turned 20, Pecolia had participated in 4 major campaigns in the Bay Area, conducted over 100 trainings throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and nation. Read more.

Pecolia has served as the Executive Director of Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network (PLAN), an Oakland based organization developing the leadership and building the power of parents to transform schools so that all students achieve student success since 2016.

Pecolia has supported PLAN to develop a new organizing model and effective programs to promote transformative family engagement. Under her leadership, the PLAN team advocates for a cultural shift toward institutional accountability to families in under-invested schools who often have the greatest needs from districts.

Pecolia continues to foster her commitment to organizing by being a values-based facilitator who brings people together to fight for justice in education and build people’s confidence to achieve their goals. This is evident in her African tradition-centric nurturing and caretaking of her amazing black children- Niani, Annika and Jamari. She remains an active parent volunteer and advocate for her children at their public schools in Oakland, California. She currently serves as the Chair of the Reparations for Black Students Task Force in Oakland Unified School District and is a Commissioner on the Policy Oversight Committee for the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth.

Pecolia believes that authentic and transformative family engagement makes a significant difference in early childhood success for lifelong achievement. Recognizing the boundaries of traditional parent involvement, she leads PLAN to design programs and organizing strategies that foster shared responsibility for student success among families, schools, and communities. Pecolia inspires action through stories of parent-led advocacy efforts to provide quality education for all children. She invites the education sector to reflect on how to meaningfully apply research, experiences, and best practices to foster a deeper understanding of how individual family engagement successes lead to the broader systems change we desire.