María Guajardo is the executive director of the Mayor’s Office for Education and Children in Denver, Colorado. Focusing on the first two decades of life, the charge of her office is to champion educational advancement for children and youth in Denver. She oversees operations from Head Start to providing high school students an even start to postsecondary education. A licensed child psychologist, in 2005 she received a congressional commendation for her contributions to Latino education.
Her educational experiences range from preschool to higher education. Dr. Guajardo began her career as an educator as a teaching assistant in a trilingual classroom. She has served as a therapist for Denver Head Start, a bilingual school psychologist for Denver Public Schools, an adjunct professor at Metropolitan State College and UCD and now is a trustee for two universities, the University of Denver and Soka University of America.
Her research in dropout prevention guided her work at the Colorado Department of Education as the Dropout Prevention Coordinator and as co‑director of the Colorado Preschool Project. In the mid‑199Os she served as the executive director of the Latin American Research and Service Agency. She also served as the founding executive director of Assets for Colorado Youth, a $10 million positive youth development initiative.
Serving as a mentor to nine West High School Latina students for three years, she began her commitment to moving theory into practice, earning the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Colorado Alliance for Business. She recently was awarded the “Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award” for her leadership and commitment to excellence in public education and the 2006 National Woman of Vision Award. In 2005 Maria was recognized on the floor of Congress for her efforts to contribute to Latino education.
She is a national spokesperson on topics of educational attainment, positive youth development and the strength of diversity. Her publications include The Power of Parents: Parent Engagement in Schools and the Developmental Assets. Currently she serves on The Children’s Hospital Board and Rocky Mountain PBS Community Advisory Board.
Dr. Guajardo graduated with honors from Harvard University and earned her Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Denver. She is also a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government. A daughter of migrant parents, she currently has a son enrolled in Denver Public Schools.
María is an author, a mother, a community volunteer, and a national speaker.