Michelle Francois
Managing Director II: Operations & Programs
michelle@cslx.org she/her
Michelle's journey into educational justice began with a fundamental question: What would schools look like if they were truly designed for all students? This question has guided fifteen years of work centering the voices and experiences of young people who face the greatest barriers to educational opportunity—students in foster care, those experiencing homelessness, and youth navigating multiple systems that rarely coordinate to support their success.
Through her work building partnerships between schools, child welfare agencies, and community organizations, Michelle has focused on creating sustainable systems change. As Managing Director at the National Center for Youth Law, she led the design and implementation of the multi-state Compassionate Education Systems Initiative, collaborating alongside community partners and an talented staff team, the initiative created lasting change in the educational outcomes of young people across systems, and supporting the transition of demonstration projects into permanent public programs embedded within districts and public agencies, moving from philanthropic investment to long-term public ownership.
At the Stuart Foundation, Michelle developed and launched Education Equals, a $5 million annual initiative to improve education outcomes for students in foster care in California. She recruited and led youth leadership teams to advise grantmaking and evaluation strategy, and worked in close partnership with educators across Washington and California to understand opportunities and gaps at the intersection of child welfare and education.
In addition to serving as Managing Director II: Operations & Programs for the CA Community Schools Learning Exchange, Michelle previously served on CSLX's Advisory Board. Her work at the intersection of policy, practice, research, and youth development in education has included creating data linkage systems between child welfare and education agencies across multiple states and supporting policy staff in translating local demonstration lessons into statewide policy frameworks.
Michelle received her B.A. from Macalester College and certification in Compassionate Systems with the Center for Systems Awareness.
At its core, Michelle believes that love must be at the center of education—love for young people as they are, not as we think they should be. When schools become places where students feel genuinely seen, valued, and supported to thrive as whole human beings, transformation becomes possible. This isn't just about better coordination—it's about creating learning environments rooted in care, connection, and the unwavering belief that every child deserves to flourish.
