Mikva Challenge
Carla Rubalcava has a varied work experience, starting with their current role as the Managing Director of Illinois Programs at Mikva Challenge since April 2021. Prior to that, they worked as the Director of Enrollment Management at City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College from April 2019 to March 2021, and as the Director of Enrollment Management at Holy Trinity High School in Chicago from September 2016 to April 2019. Carla also served as the Community Engagement Manager at the Academy for Urban School Leadership from December 2013 to September 2016, and as the Neighborhood Advisory Council Facilitator at Kids First Chicago in September 2013. Earlier in their career, they held roles as the Director of Nutrition Services and Regulatory Specialist at the Association for Child Development from January 2011 to September 2013, and as the Resource Coordinator/Community Organizer at the Organization of the NorthEast/Daniel Boone Elementary from February 2008 to November 2009.
Carla Rubalcava completed their Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where they studied from 2002 to 2007. In 2006, they briefly attended Tecnológico de Monterrey, but did not receive a degree or specify a field of study for this period.
Mikva Challenge
Mikva Challenge develops youth to be informed, empowered, and active citizens and community leaders. We do this by engaging youth in action civics, an authentic and transformative learning process built on youth voice and youth expertise. Core Values: Our values challenge the status quo. Traditional schooling emphasizes adult lectures and students as passive learners. Mikva Challenges adheres to the following core values when implementing our mission: We believe that by providing high quality programming in under-resourced communities and schools, we can eliminate the civic achievement gap. We believe that if youth voice is included in decision-making that policy makers will make more informed decisions. We believe that the best way to learn democracy is to do democracy. We believe action civics is an essential tool to help young people develop the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to be informed, empowered, and active citizens. We believe youth are not apathetic, and that by inviting them into the political process they will become powerful and thoughtful citizens. We believe that Mikva Challenge always needs to be nonpartisan to allow young people to formulate their own opinions and choose the candidates and issues they want to support. Vision: Mikva Challenge envisions a world where: Citizens are informed, empowered, and active Youth voice is valued in decision making Civic leaders reflect the nation’s diversity Action civics is prioritized in education