Spanish Language & Latino
Culture Integration for Families & Youth
IntegrArte SF facilitates the creation of spaces and projects where children and youth from different backgrounds can have the opportunity to learn and practice Spanish, and help maintain and strengthen cultural and familial ties for Latino children and youth.
As well as promoting the participation of the Latino community, we also open our doors to all those who are interested in learning culturally rooted Spanish while engaging in fun and enriching activities:
Permaculture & Gardening
Family Dynamics
Workshops on herbalism and the use of medicinal plants
Health education
Ancestral or traditional medicine
Science Tutoring
Mathematics
Storytelling
Music and more!
With this income, we help create life-changing learning communities for women and children.
Investing in the Latino community.
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As immigrants, parents, and professionals from Latin America living in and contributing to the diversity of San Francisco, we are the stewards of our culture and language. With that comes the responsibility to pass culture and language onto the children in our community, to maintain our cultural identity, and to protect the multicultural character of our city.
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IntegrArte SF’s mission is to aid children in the process of learning the Spanish language by involving them in activities such as art, music, dance, theater, science, and the environment.
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IntegrArte SF aspires to become a self-sustaining entity that generates resources to invest in cultural/educational projects, promote cultural exchange to strengthen ties between The United States and Latin American communities, and spread the wealth of Latin American culture and identity.
Meet the Founder
Dheyanira Calahorrano
Founder-President
Board Member
Dheyanira is an Ecuadorian immigrant, homeschooler-unschooler Latina mom, a Community Health Worker, a Medicare specialist, and a Community herbalist. She worked as a Health Coach at San Francisco General Hospital for 7 years.
She has extensive volunteer and work experience in different fields such as art, health, and education focused on Latino immigrants, youth, and families with particular emphasis on women’s health and education. Her understanding of the obstacles and challenges facing low-income Latina immigrants and their families made her contributions valuable when engaging and educating our families.
She is passionate about community engagement, participation, and empowerment to develop real solutions to current issues. She has been an active participant at her son’s schools and in her community. She is actively organizing a community of bilingual-bicultural Learning in the Mission District where art, music, and nature promote healing and learning for families from all communities.
Board
Andrew Libson
Secretary
Board member
Andrew is a former public school Science teacher. He has taught high school Chemistry, Physics, and Integrated Science and has over 20 years of experience working with students at all levels from advanced honor students to students with IEPs and ESL students.
He received his BA in Chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis and his PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He did his post-doctoral research in X-ray crystallography at UCSF before becoming a public school science teacher at Mission High School in San Francisco.
Lucia Barrow
Vice-president
Board member
Lucia retired from the San Francisco Unified School District in 2016 after working as a family education advocate for nearly 20 years. She has lived in San Francisco for over 40 years and raised two children who graduated from SF public schools.
Her work with SFUSD began with the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), a program that provided interactive activities for families of preschool children to develop early literacy, math, and science skills. Lucia secured funding through grants to keep this program flourishing for 10 years. She went on to lead the Even Start Family Literacy Program, a four-year, intensive literacy and goal-setting program, and the District English Learners Advisory Committee, elected representatives of non-English speaking families working to develop and present an advisory plan for educational improvement to the school board.
Over the years her work has helped families develop deep lasting relationships supporting each other in various ways that continue to exist today.
Valentina Ramos
Bilingual Art teacher and creator
Valentina is a Colombian immigrant, a teacher, and a creator. She believes in access to education and connecting the community to resources. Her goal is to learn, grow, and heal. She helped in a variety of classrooms as an ESL teacher in a bilingual public school in Madrid, Spain. She believes in connecting to the garden as a source of art material. She loves painting, drawing, textile art, printing natural dying, and transforming and recycling materials into art.
Mauricio Zambrano
Permaculture-gardening Program Manager/Teacher
Mauricio is an agronomist/permaculture designer from Colombia. He has worked experience in agroecological projects and conservation in natural protected areas.
He has had teacher experiences in alternative pedagogic schools with populations in situations of social vulnerability. He is a promoter of the Mushuk Nina Community Gardens Network in the Mission District, is devoted to cycling and is a volunteer in the social organizations.