UnifiEd Board Candidates
Miracle Hurley
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Miracle Hurley is a coach, consultant, speaker, creative, advocate, and community development leader. She is the founder and CEO of Intended Purpose, LLC, a company dedicated to supporting the healing and growth of women and marginalized populations who have encountered traumatic, paralyzing experiences from childhood to adulthood.
Miracle is actively involved in her community volunteering her time to serve on several boards and grassroots movements that focus on building awareness, strategic planning and implementation of projects aimed at improving the racial, gender and socioeconomic divide for women and marginalized populations. Miracle’s areas of expertise include over 10+ years experience in trauma and mental health, advocacy and politics, nonprofit management, business development and creative arts and culture. - Contact Miracle |
Cate Irvin
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Since moving to Chattanooga three years ago, I have had the opportunity to collaborate on a number of local research and policy projects. One major highlight was serving as a consultant for UnifiEd’s research and policy department. In this role, I worked with the team to analyze the APEX survey responses, identifying the 25 most frequently mentioned issues and solutions, and then assisting to synthesize this information into the APEX Project Report. I also volunteered as part of the APEX Bus Tour to help collect input from the community on how to best prioritize the issues identified in the APEX Project data. Working with UnifiEd was an extraordinarily rewarding experience for me, as I have been a passionate supporter of the public school system my entire life. I was fortunate enough to attend high quality public schools from kindergarten through high school and am the child of two public school teachers and union organizers. These opportunities and experiences helped to instill my value system - that all children should have access to high quality, free, public education irrespective of where they live. It is our job as community members to fight for systemic change in order to achieve equitable and excellent public schools for all Hamilton County students.
In my current role as the Public Engagement and Policy Coordinator for the Chattanooga Department of Transportation, I am responsible for developing ongoing relationships with local foundations and funders, political leaders, community leaders and members, and the local media. I am also responsible for developing, designing, and distributing materials related to DOT projects, including visual analyses and presentations for funders, project sponsors, and community members. Throughout my graduate degree work and my career, I have served as grant writer, community engagement and outreach specialist, advocate, and leader. Furthermore, my community-based work over the past ten years has taught me how to be sensitive to the diverse needs of the Chattanooga community, while honing my skills to be measured and thoughtful in my responses to a wide variety of situations and perspectives. I am confident that you will find my experience and qualifications an excellent match for the Community Board Member position with UnifiEd. I know can bring a high level of energy, competence and professionalism to further the mission of UnifiEd to unite for social change and advocate for systemic change to improve the lives of the young people across Hamilton County. - Contact Cate |
Keelah Jackson-Harris
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As a seasoned educator, educational consultant, certified Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) facilitator, Chattanooga stakeholder, writer and activist, I fully understand the demands of this role. I know that I would be a definite asset to supporting UnifiEd and the community at large because I believe in the power of equitable education for all and universal support for both students and educators.
My professional background encompasses a wide range of mastery, and all of these fields are needed for being an exceptional and thorough UnifiEd board member. I have a BS in Political Science (Pre-Law) from The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a MS in Education (Curriculum and Instruction) from the University of Tennessee Knoxville. I taught middle school language arts and reading for several years in the Georgia public school system where I wrote subject-specific curricula for organizations, learned how to manage a sizeable workload with large numbers of students and parents, and mastered the art of problem solving very quickly! During that time, I also served as my grade team leader and Reading Department Chair which equipped me with valuable communication skills while interacting with parents, fellow co-workers, and school administrators. I have since served as a part-time editor and contributor for The Connect Magazine based out of Nashville, Tennessee, and senior columnist for the online publication, The Wonder Report. While serving in these capacities, I became quite accustomed to the demands of copy editing and adhering to strict deadlines. I currently serve as an educational consultant and part-time Teacher Assistant at Chambliss Center for Children where I have been actively involved for over six years. This opportunity has enabled me to become reacquainted with Chattanooga as well as gain a strong sense of working and building within a non-profit framework. - Contact Keelah |
Jaime Jiménez Kerns
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I am Jaime Jiménez Kerns, a product of, and a teacher and parent in, Hamilton County Schools. I have been a teacher in the district for seventeen years, including periods of curriculum development for the state’s online program, serving as a Policy Fellow with the Public Education Foundation, and earning two grants with PEF’s Fund For Teachers. My values as a teacher, parent, and advocate of public education are shaped by my father’s immigrant story as a Cuban child adopted by American parents and my experiences both with immigrant communities in Chattanooga and exploring foreign cultures on fellowships in Cuba, Peru, and as an English language teacher in mainland China. My interest in UnifiEd comes about through a set of shared values: the value of equitability in education which I have pursued in my advocacy and in my Policy Fellowship, the value of community outreach which I have embraced in the creation of the bilingual group CHArlanooga and the vision I shared with two fellow educators that expanded into the Community School concept currently in place in the county, and the value of grassroots movements which I have engaged in through participation in TFP-CHATT and #CHAEDU. Working with UnifiED, I would have the privilege of combining my values and passions to actively serve my community’s public education in a meaningful way. Full disclosure- I am on the Board of Directors for HCEA and part of the Hamilton County United group. - Contact Jaime |
Jaime Peterson
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Being able to work in an array of Non-Profit Organizations as well as the Public School System and in a variety of different cultural areas has allowed me to deeply understand and experience the importance of the connection between education and the community. During my time at the Boys and Girls Clubs, Youth and Family
Development Centers, and Mental Health Facilities my emphasis was to create sustainable partnerships with individuals and organizations in the business, art, public education, and higher education communities. These partnerships and relationships benefitted both the young people in my programs as well as the local community. Because I am so passionate about creating and sustaining these connections, the work that UnifiEd was doing through the APEX project initially drew me into the organization in 2018. After being involved with one of the APEX action teams and volunteering at other events, I joined the new UnifiEd Membership Committee. I am excited to continue this work through serving as a Community Board Member. I first started working in youth development full time in 2006. Since that time I have had the honor of serving “at risk” youth in Knoxville, Colorado (specifically the Navajo and Ute Nations), Memphis, and now Chattanooga. This work has included after school organizations, detention facilities, mental health facilities, and the public education system. After relocating to Chattanooga in 2016, I spent several years at Brainerd High School before transitioning to the TRIO programs through UTC in the fall of 2019. I am also a local working artist, and have collaborated with several other incredible female teaching artists to create an arts based initiative within local schools. Believing that young people drive social change, this program teaches students to respond to and create narrative about issues that concern them through large installation artwork. My experience over the past 14 years has allowed me the opportunity to explore creative ways for community members and students to interact and benefit from each other. Additionally, I have training and experience as a facilitator and grant writer. - Contact Jaime |
Janet Radden
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I introduce myself to UniFiEd as a participant servant of education throughout my career. Educator was the call I answered in my first position under the leadership of John F. Franklin within the Department of Education. I served the families and children of Howard Elementary and the Alton Park and Poss Homes communities. I learned and observed in the dawning of my career as an educator, that I would have to become much more than an educator to meet and achieve my mission. I learned then as I believe now—education has to become more effective in speaking the language of the students we serve. I know that there are miles to go before we consider resting on the issues facing education. However, I want to be an agent of change and opportunity.
I am a product of Chattanooga and its public school system. I grew up in the Eastdale and the East Chattanooga areas. I was child of the busing and desegregation era. This foundation also provided me with an empathetic response to the challenges I faced then as well as the issues still present in many of our E1 and Chapter 1 schools. I am the proud parent of 5 public school educated students of Hamilton County Public Schools. My twins are juniors studying medicine with the University of Tennessee Knoxville and the University of Memphis. One of my twins conducted and presented her senior project before UniFiEd in 2017. Her study looked into the disparities in educational outcomes within minority predominant schools versus schools in the affluent areas of our school system. In conclusion, I want to serve my community in the most important arena of education. UniFiEd is such a venue to problem solve to be a catalyst for the forward momentum of our students. - Contact Janet |
Natalie Sedeno
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My name is Natalie Sedeno. I am 20 years old and I was born in Puebla, Mexico. I am currently living in Chattanooga, Tennessee with my parents and my sister. I lived in Germany for three years, and that means that I can speak three languages. I graduated from East Hamilton High School in 2018. When I came to the United States, I could not speak good English, and I suffered some because I could not understand my friends and my teachers, but with the time I learned English really fast. I am studying at Chattanooga State Community College, and my major is International Business. My plan is to transfer to UTC and finish my major and then go to Spain to do my master's. I have also been president of the Latino American Student Organization (LASO) at Chattanooga State, for the last two years. I joined other students to organize events like the “Spring Festival,” “Day of the Dead,” “Tamale Sale,” and others as well. In fall of 2019, I was recognized as an “Emerging Leader” from La Paz Chattanooga. At Chattanooga State I was accepted into the Global Scholars Program (their academic honors society) because of my consistently strong academic performance.
I want to be a UnifiEd board candidate because I want to help the Latino community in Hamilton County. I think UnifiEd needs people who speak Spanish since the Latino community is growing so much right now. I can also speak 3 languages, which means I can help the organization to communicate with a larger group of people. I think Hamilton County needs more people involved in education that speak both Spanish and English. When I came to the United States and registered as a student in this county, they didn't offer the support that I needed as someone who didn't yet speak English. I think that as a speaker of Spanish, an immigrant, and a former student of Hamilton County Schools, I can offer a valuable perspective to the board. - Contact Natalie |
UnifiEd Membership Committee Chair Candidate
Teo Valdés
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My name is Teo Valdés, and I have lived in Chattanooga with my wife Emily for about five years. I first connected with UnifiEd back in 2015, and I’ve stayed involved one way or another ever since. Last fall, I joined the new UnifiEd Membership Committee and accepted the interim membership chair position. I’m now running to be the elected membership chair for the coming year. I’m passionate about working to help UnifiEd engage its membership even more, offering the community more voice than ever in the strategy and action it adopts to advocate for the best, most equitable education possible in Hamilton County. My hope is to facilitate the development of the membership committee in the coming year, so that a new membership chair can take over a year from now with some structure and momentum in place to continue the work in 2021.
My academic and work experience, along with my involvement in the Chattanooga community have prepared me with knowledge, relationships, and abilities that I believe will help me to be successful as the first membership committee chair at UnifiEd. I have a BA in Spanish Education from Kennesaw State University and an M.A. in Spanish Language, Literatures, and Cultures from UNC Greensboro. I am a certified teacher of Spanish, English, and ESOL. I have taught in public and private schools, and in different contexts like businesses and summer camps. I’ve served on the board of the Highland Park Neighborhood Association and also the J. A. Henry YMCA. I’m committed to continuing to advocate for education in our community, whether in an elected role or as a volunteer. Thank you for considering me for this position. - Contact Teo |