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Michelle Ferrer, EdD - Program Manager

Photo: Michelle FerrerDr. Michelle L. Ferrer

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Dr. Ferrer (she/hers) was born in Manila, Philippines and raised in the Bay Area. She currently serves as the Restorative Justice Practices, Program Manager at San Diego Unified School District. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at San Francisco State University and holds a Master of Arts Degree in International Multicultural Education from the University of San Francisco. She recently completed her doctorate degree in Educational Leadership from San Francisco State University. The title of her dissertation is A Love Letter Written on Bamboo: Cantering Educators’ Narratives on Restorative Justice. 


Dr. Ferrer brings seventeen years of expertise working as a social justice educator and youth development practitioner. Both in Oakland and Los Angeles, Dr. Ferrer has served as an educational leader and coach working with schools to develop their own vision of RJ that fits their school’s culture and context. For five years she served on the Board of Directors for Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP) in San Francisco. She has extensive experience in nonprofit management, strategic planning, program design, and educator-leader professional development. A decade of Dr. Ferrer’s personal and professional growth happened in Oakland where she served alongside multiple community-based organizations and worked with thousands of young people fighting for educational justice across the city. 


She is one of the co-founders of Organize Da B.A.Y (Bay Area Youth) Coalition and knows first hand that true systems change is possible. The type of change that centers the talents, wisdom, and needs of young people. Dr. Ferrer is a co-founder of youth leadership and peer-mentoring program Peers Advising Students to Succeed (PASS-2) in Oakland. PASS-2 was studied by Stanford University’s John W. Gardner Center. Dr. Ferrer comes to educational justice work with a storyteller and performance poet’s heart. Dr. Ferrer aims to bring all her skills together as a visionary leader and emerging scholar, and hopes to contribute to San Diego Unified in meaningful and transformative ways.