Honoring Deanna Niebuhr: A champion for children and community schools

Dear Community,

We are heartbroken to share that our dear friend and colleague Deanna Niebuhr passed peacefully after a short illness, surrounded by her family, on Saturday, February 28th. She spent her last day “at home” in Turlock, CA — where she was born and raised — with family and old friends. Her friend Tina captured beautifully what we at CSLX also feel:

Deanna was impossible not to love with her big bright smile and sparkling blue eyes. Her passion was infectious. We are privileged to have been a part of this amazing woman's life.

Deanna was not just a beloved person — she was a fiercely quiet, tireless, unapologetic advocate for kids and their families. Her entire career was focused on creating student-centered environments for children to learn, grow, and thrive. Some might say her superpower was her sharp analytical mind and her command of child-facing policy, but we know it was the enormous heart and humanity that went along with it. Her driving spirit was kindness, joy, wonder, and humility. She hated seeing people and creatures in pain. She lived her life the way she pushed our work — in community, giving of herself, taking care of kids, animals, plants, and us.

Deanna was the person legislative staff called at the beginning of what we know as the California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP) – a $4.1 billion dollar state grant program that funded a vision of public schools as true community hubs — where partnerships and strong relationships make learning possible for all kids. They knew she was the perfect mind to help craft the legislation, guide decision-makers, and skill up department staff — to understand both the fault lines and opportunities for real, meaningful implementation. She was the architect behind the scenes, deeply intentional about how community schools could and should play out in real life for California's kids. And she worked behind the scenes by choice. The recognition was never the point. Kids were always the point.

Deanna unfailingly kept young people at the center of her work and pushed to keep young people at the center of everyone’s work. She looked for opportunities to connect whole-child work everywhere — across disciplines, systems, and silos. All the while, she never lost sight of the biggest challenge: that too many people spend their time thinking about "fixing kids,” instead of understanding and disrupting the systems that marginalize those who are most vulnerable. And she never lost a deep belief, an unflagging optimism, that we can and will fix these systems for the benefit of all children and young people.

Deanna wanted us to be accountable for our language, our assumptions, our impatience for silver bullets, our failure to really listen to kids and families. How we get our schools ready for kids, instead of kids ready for school. She believed that real solutions required sitting with complexity – understanding the tangle and tradeoffs, before crafting a response, a policy, or a solution.

While we miss Deanna deeply, we are so grateful to have been part of her story. We are grateful to you — our community school co-conspirators near and far, CCSPP partners, architects of policies, and fellow advocates for children and young people— for your love for Deanna and for this work. We know she will continue to guide us, and we will do our best to listen.

CSLX is honored to host a celebration of Deanna’s life and legacy in early May in the Bay Area, California. If you are interested in attending, please let us know so we can follow up with details.

In the meantime, please carry her spirit forward in your work. Keep it centered on what’s best for children and young people. Sit with complexity. Act with humility. Listen to each other. And if you’re so inclined, cuddle a four-legged friend or chase an eclipse. Deanna loved both, among so many other things.

With love,

Team CSLX