Megan Hester has been a community organizer, trainer and researcher in the education justice movement for more than two decades, collaborating with local, statewide and national coalitions to win policies and resources that advance equity. As the National Campaign Director at the NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, she leads the H.E.A.L. (Honest Education, Action and Leadership) Together partnership with Race Forward and the Schott Foundation for Public Education to advance honest, equitable and, fully-funded public education as a foundation for multiracial democracy. In the face of extravagantly funded efforts to discredit and dismantle public education, H.E.A.L partners with grassroots community groups across the country to build sustainable organizing infrastructures with the power to defend and advance equity and the public good in our nation’s public schools. Over her career in organizing, Megan has helped found, lead and support organizing groups that have changed the game on education equity, including the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice, Alliance for Quality Education in NY State, and the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools. She provides strategic support, data, research, policy and trainings to education organizing groups, especially in the areas of transformative parent engagement, community schools, charter schools and privatization, culturally responsive-sustaining education and building community power. She has two daughters who attend NYC public schools.