Community-Rooted Leadership

Community-Rooted Leadership: Yonaira Rodriguez’s Vision of Building Trust and Breaking Barriers at William Cramp Elementary

At William Cramp Elementary School in North Philadelphia, Principal Dr. Yonaira Rodriguez (2024 Neubauer Fellow, Cohort 8) is transforming what it means to lead a school by centering her leadership on dignity, trust, and lived experience. A former Cramp student herself, Dr. Rodriguez has returned not just to lead—but to reimagine the school as a hub of support and empowerment for the families and larger Cramp community.

“When I walked through the building, I saw a space that used to be a boys’ locker room—just filled with storage,” Dr. Rodriguez recalls. “I kept thinking this could be something more.” That vision became the foundation for Cramp’s new community room: a welcoming, multi-purpose space where families can do laundry, access food and clothing, apply for jobs, and connect with vital resources—all without stigma or shame. Dr. Rodriguez’s leadership is rooted in her own story. “My family was that family,” she says. “We had a washer but no dryer. We hung clothes on the radiator and hoped they’d be dry by morning. My parents did the best they could.” That personal history fuels her commitment to meeting families where they are and building systems that reflect their realities.

The community room is more than a physical space—it’s a symbol of what’s possible when schools truly partner with families. “We can’t improve academics if kids are hungry or don’t have clean clothes,” Dr. Rodriguez says. “We have to meet those foundational needs first.” With support from grants, donations, and a team of dedicated staff, the space came to life—complete with a washer, dryer, refrigerator, and multilingual signage. It was named in honor of Ana V. Cruz, the school’s beloved community coordinator who retired after 35 years of service.

Dr. Rodriguez’s approach is deeply pragmatic. “We’re trying to create a one-stop shop,” she explains. “Families shouldn’t have to go to five different places. They can come here, do a load of laundry, pick up groceries, apply for a job—and feel safe doing it.” That sense of safety is central to her leadership philosophy. “Families often come to us as a last resort because they’re afraid—afraid we’ll judge them or report them. We have to change that. We have to be the place they turn to first.”

As a Neubauer Fellow, Dr. Rodriguez has found both inspiration and strategy and, though just finishing the first year of her Fellowship, has already embraced an entrepreneurial approach to school leadership. Her vision of the Cramp community room embodies not only her pragmatism, but her willingness to step into the unknown to enact her mission and uplift communities and students. “One of the first things we did was ground ourselves in our ‘why.’ That framework changed everything for me,” she says. “I remember an early session on being your own chief of staff. Approaching our larger processes through strategic thinking was a total mindset shift for me” and enabled her to reimagine systems and timelines through fresh eyes. “One of the things I realized was that waiting until spring to hire was too late. That data-driven approach shifted my thinking—not just about hiring, but about everything.”

Dr. Rodriguez is also focused on representation. “Only 3% of teachers in Pennsylvania are Latino, but 27% of our students are. Our kids don’t see themselves in the adults around them—and that has to change.” She’s working to change that by hiring special assistants from the community and helping them access pathways to become certified teachers. “Our students may not see the difference between a special assistant and a teacher—they just see someone who looks like them, who cares. That matters.”

Her leadership is about more than just meeting needs—it’s about building power. “No one’s coming to rescue us,” she says. “The system is working exactly as it was designed to. So how do we break it? How do we empower families to challenge it? I can’t do it for them—but I can give them the tools to lead change.” Dr. Rodriguez sees the Neubauer Fellowship as a catalyst for collective impact. In her mind, the Fellowship community is more than a network of 173 Fellows: it empowers a group that together—by being part of the community and leading from lived experience—can steer the direction of the city. “Like Dr. Will Hayes told us, ‘Dream big. What’s that big dream you have?’”

And her dream? “I want us to be the fastest-improving school in Philadelphia,” she says, “I want people to ask, ‘How the heck did they do that?’ In the middle of West Kensington, in the middle of everything—we did it. Because we believed in our kids, and we believed in our community.”