Flamboyan’s people are at the heart of what we do.
Every member of the Flamboyan team has a unique strength to share. Working together, our team lives out Flamboyan’s core values of people, equity, impact, and catalytic action every day with one goal in mind: to ensure that students most impacted by inequity have what they need to succeed in school and beyond.
We’re excited to share some of our recent additions! Meet Karima Raharjo, Program Associate.
What do you do at Flamboyan?
I joined Flamboyan as the program associate in mid-October and currently support three main aspects of our work. I support the program teams with their operational and programmatic needs. For example, I work with the coaching team on our Community of Practice events – reserving the venues and catering, helping with materials prep, and managing logistics on-site – whatever the coaches need. I also communicate with our partners to ensure they have the information they need. Finally, I am starting to work with the administration and learning team on analyzing and managing data within our FamilyEngagement.org database.
I’m excited about all of my current work because it all contributes to how Flamboyan supports schools. Before this role, I taught at Noyes Elementary School, one of Flamboyan’s newest partners this year. I love being able to work with both the coaches and the data and see the connections to our work. I have a deeper understanding of what practices are important when it comes to family engagement, and I’m excited to see how I can contribute to that relationship. I have a background in data analysis, but also in the classroom – I love playing the role of translator between the two.
What drew you to work at Flamboyan?
It’s a fun story! Flamboyan needed to interview Noyes, where I was teaching last year, as part of the school’s Family Engagement Partnership application. My administrator asked me if I could join the interview, so I got the opportunity to speak on behalf of the school. Then, I decided to leave teaching at the end of that school year, and this summer I saw the job posting. I already knew Flamboyan was doing meaningful work on family engagement, which I have always felt was a priority, but my experience at Noyes re-emphasized its importance to me. With this role, I can stay within the field of education while going towards a different career trajectory in terms of where I work and what type of skills I can use.
From your perspective, why is REAL Family Engagement important?
Schools have a big job to do. All families face factors that make it challenging to stay on top of their children’s performance in school. But those most impacted by systemic barriers, unfortunately, must work extra hard to support their children. Schools also work hard to provide as much additional support and instruction as they can. But children learn best when there’s an individualized approach to their learning; so, from my perspective, parents are the ones best positioned to help their kids learn. With a strong partnership between their family and schools, students can achieve great academic and personal success, and REAL Family Engagement helps schools build those relationships. You can’t quantify how meaningful that is.
What are you most excited about working on in 2024?
In March, Flamboyan will host our largest Community of Practice with all our partner schools – those new to REAL Family Engagement, who are in what we call Phase 1, and those who are more experienced in their work with us. I am involved in finding the venue, getting the catering, and managing the logistics. It’s a lot of moving pieces but seeing the event come to life will be so rewarding.
Is there anything about your personal story that others might not know and that you’d like to share?
I come from an immigrant family that moved to the United States from Indonesia, and I grew up in public schools. My parents spoke English well, but they had accents or struggled with their words sometimes. So, they knew that my brother and I might already be perceived to be at a disadvantage. They decided to purposefully set us up for academic success beforehand: teaching us to read before Kindergarten and encouraging us to do math during our summers. I think they prepared us so teachers wouldn’t have to engage with our family for us to succeed. However, family engagement from my teachers became a pleasant surprise, helped me adjust socially, and pushed me academically. Purposeful family engagement with my family allowed me to feel more comfortable and confident in school, which contributed to my academic and social-emotional success. All students and families deserve both types of partnerships.
One of my teachers, in particular my second-grade teacher, was very intentional and would mail us postcards and send pictures home often. She also invited my mom into her classroom to do a lesson on origami. I was surprised that she could be brought in to teach my classmates and my teacher something new. I knew my mom was very smart, but it was new that this was valued in school. My mom wears a hijab like me, so my teacher finding a way for her to share something with my classroom of mostly white students was special.
Anything else you want to share?
In school, I studied elementary education, but my other major was in psychology. The work I got to do in the psychology research lab sparked my interest in data science and computers and in using those skills to further social impact work. I really love being able to work at Flamboyan and combine those two passions of mine.
Get to know the rest of our team by visiting our Meet the Team page on our website.