Jenny immigrated to Canada in 1991 from El Salvador, Central America. She settled in Charlottetown, PEI where she was one of only 45 Salvadorean people in the small city of 130,000 and one of the three hispanic persons (including her sister), in her graduating high school class of 340 students. Jenny went on to gain her MA with a double major in Political Science and sociology from the University of Prince Edward Island, then her Msc. in International and Community Development from Guelph University. She also has a certification in Nonprofit Management and Fundraising from the School of Community and Economic Development in Los Angeles, California.

 

During her scholastic years, Jenny lived in Guelph, Ontario, Lacombe, Alberta and Victoria Island, British Columbia. She finally settled in Ottawa where she resides with her family since 2007. As a OCSB Trustee Candidate, she hopes to make a real difference in her community by continuing to advocate for education and strengthening the relations between the School Boards, teachers, parents and stakeholders. Jenny believes that by working together, we can achieve our best to guarantee a promising future for our kids.  

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Jenny is fluent in both English and Spanish. Her work in the community includes acting as facilitator, mentor and advocate of issues pertaining to education. She has spent many years working and volunteering for social development organizations such as Save the Children, OXFAM, Salvaide Canada, CRIPDES and recently with the Youth Policy Institute (YPI), where she had the opportunity to work as Youth Outreach and Resource Coordinator, mentoring and providing orientation to low income youth. It was her experience at the YPI that motivated Jenny to focus her work in advocating for education and in empowering young people to initiate and direct their own learning path by providing inspiration, mentorship and access. 

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Jenny is trained as a Community Worker and Non-Profit Manager who focuses on evaluating and analyzing social issues, like education and uses her expertise to develop and formulate solutions to address a problem. She is accustomed to taking a stand for what she woks and advocates for; and develops a plan of action knowing that metrics need to be established in order to understand the success or failure. Jenny is a parent and community member who understands the need to listen with an open ear and mind to the differing voices and concerns. 

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