Mariel Novas

Mariel Novas

RIDES Fellow
Novas

Mariel Novas is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic and a product of both public and private education in the United States, sees herself as a border-crosser. Due to her life experiences, she committed long ago to the work of bridging communities that often remain separate and redistributing resources more equitably to provide opportunities to historically marginalized racial groups. Mariel believes that the first step in creating a socially just education system is to elevate the leadership of the people most impacted by inequities in our schools. As a teacher, coach, and organizer, she focused on expanding opportunities for integration for immigrants and youth of color in her home state of Massachusetts. She taught newcomer students in Boston, coached novice teachers throughout the Commonwealth, particularly undocumented educators and those working with English language learners, and co-founded a local organizing group hungry for policy changes that would improve social-emotional learning for students. Most recently, Mariel launched the first-ever Homegrown Program at Teach For America Massachusetts, which supported aspiring educators who grew up in Massachusetts' low-income communities and who sought to teach (and lead) right back in their home districts. As a RIDES fellow and after, she hopes to lead on equity and integration efforts in the national advocacy space or partner with a school district focused on deepening diversity, equity, and integration goals in their organization. In May, Mariel completed her first year in the Education Leadership doctoral program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; she holds a master's degree in Curriculum & Teaching from Boston University and a Bachelor's degree in History and Ethnicity, Race, & Migration from Yale University. She is an active board member of the Steppingstone Foundation and the Boston Schools Fund. In her downtime, Mariel enjoys reading poetry by women of color, memorizing inspirational quotes, and learning tongue-twisters in Spanish. 

Mariel is currently the Assistant Director of Partnerships & Engagement for Massachusetts. Mariel supports the Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership, where she manages partner recruitment and engagement, drives coalition operations, and helps establish the strategy and vision for impact.