"More Great Seats 4 Kids": A SUNY Charter Schools Institute Podcast
"More Great Seats 4 Kids": A SUNY Charter Schools Institute Podcast
Launching a New Charter School with Natalie Lozada, Executive Director, Haven Charter High School
Natalie Lozada, the founding Executive Director of Haven Charter High School, joins the podcast to discuss the STEM-based CTE high school’s launch this past August. Natalie discusses the inspiration behind Haven and how the school built ties within the local Bronx community and successfully navigated initial challenges and the pre-opening process.
These jobs that our students will graduate with, or the certifications that allow them to go after jobs, are already starting them off somewhere between$22 to$26 an hour, which is significant for the Bronx when our poverty level is so low, and when so many of our families are really struggling with ends meet, right? And just trying to survive.
SPEAKER_00:Natalie, welcome to the uh More Great Seats for Kids podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00:This is a really exciting topic. Obviously, Haven's a brand new charter school to the SUNY portfolio. I'm really excited to hear how the launch went, uh, how it's going, and really kind of hear about your experiences, both you know, on the ground and and what you look forward to in the future. So, again, really excited to have you.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome. So looking forward to telling you all the fun stuff that's happening over here.
SPEAKER_00:So let's let's start from the beginning. I will what uh inspired the creation of Haven Charter School?
SPEAKER_01:Great question. So um Haven is really the brainchild of East Side House Settlement, our community-based organization partner. Um, and really it stems from work for many, many years in the Bronx and parts of Manhattan, um, working with youth in particular who just did not have a lot of options or opportunities or choice. Um, and what we were finding was students were either struggling with high schools and which high schools to go to, or even when they were okay in a high school, not really understanding what their future held for them or what could be in front of them after graduation. Um, and there was this real push to go to college, and it was that was the only conversation happening at that time. Um, and what was struggling, or what the kids were struggling with really was making this choice around college that tapped into, let's say, financial aid, but not necessarily being clear about what they wanted to do with their lives. At the same time, the struggle with needing to support their own family, their own needs, right? We're not talking about students coming from the most affluent uh families. And so, really, in the Bronx, you have a lot of working class families where everybody's contributing to the bills or to the livelihood. And our students weren't able to tap into that. Based on that, we started to explore certification programs and thinking, okay, what is a livable wage in New York? Which is quite funny because a livable wage here is not the same thing as the rest of the country. Um, but really thinking about well, if this 18-year-old graduates from high school, what are their options, right? What could they be doing while they either simultaneously go to school or while they break into the workforce, but at a wage that helps them to support themselves and then make better decisions for their education and their future? And so we started this program called post-secondary pathways, and we started to explore different certifications. And then somewhere, someone down the line said, you know, you guys have this really awesome idea. Why don't you have a school that does that? And we thought, yeah, that sounds great. Sure, we'll just open a school, no big deal, right? Um, but then we started having conversations and really talking and looking at the SUNY portfolio back then. This is going back seven years ago, Mike. I'm not sure if you know that. Um, but seven years ago, just saying, okay, there's this application process. Um, what if we could fold this post-secondary pathways concept and certifications into an academic structure where students could get both their high school diploma and certifications? And let's also think about social emotional learning and how that taps in uh to the well-being of a student. And we decided to put this concept onto paper, wrote our application for SUNY, um, applied, and back then we were given a you guys are approved. We just don't have any charters for Haven yet. Um, but it's kind of like an IOU, right? Let's go work on some advocacy, right? Let's figure some pieces out. Um, and so we did that. We were part of the advocacy junket, and COVID happened. So that slowed us down again. Um, and quite honestly, Mike, we started to give up and think, okay, well, this is just not uh for us. And then about two and a half years ago, I get a call saying, Hey, you guys interested still? Is that still something you want to do? And it the dream started again, the vision got bigger, and here we are. Haven opened its doors in August of 2025.
SPEAKER_00:And I probably should have asked this from the very beginning, but uh what was your exact role uh at uh at Eastside House development?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so at Eastide, I was the associate executive director of programs. Uh so I've been overseeing programs from everything from 18-month-olds all the way up to 99-year-olds for about 16, 17 years before Haven came into the world. Um, but my favorite age group, quite honestly, has always been high school. Um, and that young adult, I think it's such a crucial part of the development of a person. And when you can get it right, and when you can help these young people realize, again, their opportunities or even you know, start to dream bigger than what they thought. To me, that's like the most powerful part of being in education.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's great to be able to kind of blend your personal experience at Eastside House Settlement and be able to kind of shape you know Haven's mission and design. Uh so obviously the Haven's model it emerges like rigorous academics with with workforce development. Why is that combination so important for the Bronx community?
SPEAKER_01:Well, for one, because the Bronx is the least and the last in most cases when it comes to everything career health-wise. Um, we have some of the worst statistics, right, for um the people of the Bronx. And I think wanting to change that conversation, right? Because we also have some of the most talented, um, most ethnically diverse group of people as well. And just wanting to provide that level of equity, right? I think it's about having the choice. And that has been taken away from so many of our residents for so long. Um, workforce development merged with the rigor of an academic structure really starts to chip away at what those statistics have said about our young people and changes exactly that conversation. Where now I'm thinking about what a long-term career could be for me, right? And for my family, for the needs of my particular situation. Um, it's also understanding that, listen, the diploma is still important, right? So graduating from high school is still one of the most important pieces of documentation that you need to actually move forward and be successful. But at the same time, knowing what you want to do with the rest of your life or at least having some options is a game changer for our young people. These jobs that our students will graduate with or the certifications that allow them to go after jobs are already starting them off somewhere between$22 to$26 an hour, which is significant for the Bronx when our poverty level is so low and when so many of our families are really struggling with ends meet, right? And just trying to survive. Um, so this again is not only impacting the young person, but we're really talking about a family which is part of a community, right? Which is then part of the borough. Um, so you're really talking about learn long-term impacts for our young people.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I mean, obviously it's a key part of your mission to create you know opportunities for all students. So uh I appreciate you providing some insight how you're going about doing just that. Obviously, one of the important pieces of the RFP is providing evidence of community demand and need. So, how did you go about involving the community or families in that founding vision for Haven?
SPEAKER_01:Love that question because um so much of the negative feedback for schools can be not involving the community. And we came at it from a completely opposite uh vantage point. Because of our community roots, and because uh again, we're stemming in my previous experience was in the community-based organization. For me, hearing from our young people, our families, and our community was of the utmost importance. So we just tapped into middle schools, elementary schools, because that's our future students, families, uh, local businesses, our churches, the mosques, any other religious organizations in the community, and really started with saying, what do you need? What are the needs of your people? What are the needs of your community, right? Um, and then what are these areas of interest for career pathways? Um, and that was from us tabling. I actually went to services and spoke at them. We went to different marketplaces, we spoke with our local businesses. Um, we attended every fair you could possibly think of, even though we didn't have a school yet. We just wanted to see what was out there and what was the interest. Um, and even tapping into our workforce development um partners, them being able to feed back almost like backwards planning. So who's entering the workforce and what are the struggles in the actual workplace to find, you know, top employees? And that even having those conversations was a game changer because they were able to give us insight into why there are these gaps, specifically for us in the medical fields, right? Um, and why they're having a hard time with some of the most basic but of the utmost important jobs. So EKG and phlebotomy, CNAs, they are the backbone of a hospital or a medical facility. And yet they are having the hardest time identifying um employees, right? Or quality uh candidates going for the jobs. So even involving them and seeing them as part of our community. In the Bronx, everywhere you step, there's an urgent care, a medical office, right? We have some of the biggest hospitals in the city, and they're part of our community as well. So bringing them to the table, having conversations with them and merging them together, I think was really key for us to identify kind of this niche area, right? Um, that hadn't been quite tapped into the way we were doing that. Um, and then parents and kids, right? You got to listen to your parents, you got to listen to your children, what is of interest to them? You know, what are the fields that they're looking forward to? But also, you know, what do they not know? So many people think of a hospital or a medical facility, they think doctor, right? Or nurse, as if those are the only jobs or career pathways. But a hospital is a city, and so many people make up that city. And some of them are some of the most crucial jobs, right? Um, and yet our kids weren't getting exposure to that, and neither were our families. So that helped to change those conversations and really to help us narrow down on our vision for our school.
SPEAKER_00:Let's talk about now, you know, the first few months. We're here, your doors have opened. Um, what's it been like to finally welcome the first class of students?
SPEAKER_01:Um definitely at the last uh at the the risk of sounding like a cliche, a dream come true. Um, taking it from a stack of you know, 200 plus papers and all these compliance um components that are super important. Um, but then watching the kids walk in in their uniform. And for us, our uniforms are scrubs. I can't even probably I can't articulate just the joy and um happiness and just proud moments that not only myself and my team has had um watching this happen, but also it's a school, right? And so that's great. The paperwork was great and the vision was awesome, but now we've got, you know, a hundred young people in our presence, right, um, with personalities and thoughts about what education should be or what their past experiences were, um, and how that molds or shapes what they think and how they show up in their first year of high school. So there it's been fun. I'll say that. Um, I think learning lessons for the kids, learning lessons for us, but I'm actually generally proud of how we've gotten to it's December. Uh my students are very vested in the culture, in the community, in their academics. Um, they just got progress reports two weeks ago and they were like, and it was great because it was the good kind of like, yeah, this is actually something, right? Like you're being graded and you're being held accountable, but also we're supporting you and your process, and we're in this together. Um, so just really cool moments and trying to also take those pauses to like celebrate the wins, um, because I don't think we do that enough, and not just as the kids, but I think as a staff. Um, being able to be fully staffed, having, you know, some of the best teachers that we could possibly have found here, and our advisors and our whole advisory component coming together and really building what we believe is the Haven model. It's just it's been quite an experience. And I'm I'm really happy with where we are right now at this point of the year.
SPEAKER_00:Any specific, you know, big early wins that made you real kind of proud of your team?
SPEAKER_01:Um, a couple of them, right? So, and about one that's about to happen, which I'm super excited about um because we've been gearing up for it. Um, I think when I heard the students referring to the mission and values of the school in their day-to-day conversations and holding each other accountable in the classroom around how they were interacting with, let's say, a teacher or their classmates. And when I heard them use words like integrity or um mission or just empathy, those are some cool moments for me because that social emotional is just as important, right? As the school. Um, we had a family night about two weeks ago, and the students led the family night. So they were meeting with the teachers and their parents and demonstrating their work and expressing things that they were excited about that's coming in the next few weeks, um, and really taking ownership over their building, over their school. Um, those are the moments that I'm like, okay, we're getting something right here. Um, so we're we're not so bad. Um, and then in January at the end of our first semester, um, there's a week of evaluations and closing out our semester. Um, about 45 to 55% of my students are gonna receive or they're gonna go through their certification classes for CPR and first aid. So that's the first of their certifications over the next few years. Yes, I am like super excited about that. Can't wait to send pictures and post it. Um, but I'm loving that I'm about to have a bunch of 14 and 15-year-olds who could essentially save a life in an emergency. Um, so that's coming very soon, and the kids are excited about that.
SPEAKER_00:So the Institute's has it as a pre-opening process that's focused on ensuring new schools are are prepared to welcome students in a timely, you know, safe manner, in full regulation, you know, and of all the requirements. Uh so looking back, what parts of that process were most available to you as a as a founding leader?
SPEAKER_01:Um, it was actually pretty painless and easy for us, and I felt very supported by SUNY with it. Um, we knew we had like almost like our checklist, but also we knew who to contact. I knew who to contact when we needed support, and they walked me through whatever components I needed. Um also I think it's fair to say that the checklist makes sense. Like your building should be safe, right? And there's like certain criteria in terms of like how your um how your record keeping is going. And all those things um were very on target and helped. Um, and all of it um felt like it's the right stuff to be doing. And in fact, I think was helpful in us coming up with our internal practices, right? And thinking like, oh, okay, not that we wouldn't have done something to safeguard records per se, but it made sense why you should do it that way. Um, and I think even the visit was super helpful too, doing a walkthrough, having someone else kind of walk us through um those pieces from a different lens. Because when you're in it, it starts to blur a little bit, right? Um, so having almost like that outside um kind of vantage point, but someone who or people who actually know what we need to be doing. I actually found that to be crucial for our opening. Um, and probably we avoided some pitfalls along the way, right? Had if we had not had that, I'm not sure you know how smooth our opening would have been, but super helpful.
SPEAKER_00:Were there any surprises in terms of things you didn't expect would be helpful but ended up being crucial?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's a good one. Let me think. Um probably a little bit of all of it because seriously, like, yeah, nothing super surprising, but it doesn't negate how helpful it was. Um, and I honestly really want to stress me being able to send an email and getting a response within like minutes in some cases, it was the was a big one for us because when you're starting up, everything is emergency status, right? Like you are on this countdown before you even realize you are, and everything that can go wrong does. It's just the nature of the beast, right? And so um the fact that I could reach out, that I knew who to speak to, and that even when my counterparts and my partners at SUNY didn't have the answer, they were able to connect me really quickly with whoever the outside other person was. That was actually, I don't want to say surprising, but helpful and like appreciated. Um, because I never felt like I was out here on my own. I always felt like, okay, let me ask, and they're gonna connect me, and they did. So, really, really important. And for any future schools, I hope they have that same support because that it was a game changer for us.
SPEAKER_00:So SUNY piled a process where pre-opening schools had the opportunity to join a school leader, or excuse me, one of our evaluators on a visit. It's part of our co-visitation process, and you were able to take part in that. Can you tell us a little bit about the experience and what you learned from there?
SPEAKER_01:So I sent my team to that particular one. And it was exactly what you said. It was interesting to see what would be what we're looking for, what we should be thinking about more on the forefront and watching it in real life. Like this is an actual school who is actually in operation, who is now being held accountable for the measures, or at the very least, having these difficult conversations that everything's not perfect in any school, right? But being able to have like candid conversations about what was working and what wasn't and what adjustments were being done, that was really crucial. It also connected us to those other schools, right? So we already have established a relationship with the one we visited, but also there were other people in the mix that we were also able to connect with. I think that's really helpful. And if there's a cheat or like an ask if anybody else wants to connect us to any other schools in the next couple of months, we would love to do that. Yeah. Just because it's you don't really know. Like what are we know we're being held accountable. We are operating from a place of everything has to be up to par. But I think, again, it goes back to that vantage point, or like what perspective do we need? Or what are we missing? Right. I'm always asking, like, what are the what are the questions we're not asking? Um, that we should be to really focus in our crafts and and provide the quality service that we said we would. And those kind of visits are just really crucial to make those connections and to also know that we're not an island on our own. There's somebody else not too far away from me who is also asking these same questions, right? Or dealing with some of the same challenges and hopefully have some best practices that they're sharing, or vice versa, like we can tell them some of the things that we're doing to kind of address whatever that challenge may be. So that was super helpful.
SPEAKER_00:So we only have a few minutes left. Uh, I want to give you a final chance. What's uh what advice would you give to other founding leaders about navigating the entire pre-opening process and getting from you know the very beginning, you got your charter granted to opening your doors. What advice do you have?
SPEAKER_01:Um, number one, every moment is crucial. Um, the time is the time, and you're never gonna feel fully ready to open because there's always gonna be something to do, but maximizing your time um and really focusing in on what day one looks like, right? Um, I think is crucial. Um, I think second thing is building your team and really finding the right people. Um, the vision is, I'm sure, beautiful and it's exciting, but if you do not have the right people on your team to help execute that vision, then you're just gonna have more problems, quite honestly. Um, but when I say those two actually come together. So utilizing your time with the right team in place and maximizing your planning, your strategies, your execution, your timelines, um, those things working together, I think, are uh absolutely crucial to the success of your launching your school. Um, and then grace, giving yourself a little grace and a little bit of space to pivot, right? Um, we had some very clear ideas of what we thought was gonna work, and they might work, but they're not working right now, right? And that's okay. Um, we can't just stand to the letter of the law, like, well, this is what we said, and this is how we were gonna do it. Biology might not work first period. That's okay, but it might work second period, right? Like you got to give yourself some room to adjust because again, the kids are just a name on a piece of paper until they walk in your door. But if you are not meeting the needs of those young people, then we're missing the mark. So planning, strategizing, having the right team, those are gonna be key pieces. But that team and your planning, being able to pivot or adjust accordingly is really about long-term, you know, success. And if you can keep those things in mind, I think you're gonna have a great startup and a great year with a lot of bumps, but a lot of good bumps. Um, and ultimately, I think you can get to this place of excitement and knowing that you did the right thing by your young people and your families.
SPEAKER_00:So when you think about Haven's future now, what excites you the most?
SPEAKER_01:Graduation, that first one in four years. I got a long way to get there, but not, you know, four years is gonna come and go really fast. Um, so I think backwards to that. I think my kids getting certified at different levels over the next few years. I'm excited about the next incoming class and starting to cultivate, you know, a real traditional high school feeling, right? Right now I'm in ninth grade. So it's all great. We have nothing but space and everybody's spread out. But um, I'm excited about my second class coming in next year and really growing out the foundation that we've built uh this year. Um, and then again, how do we get to that place of graduation? I have this vision in my mind of my kids crossing the stage with a certification and a diploma in their hands, right? And being able to take pictures with their family and possibly even their future employer being there. Um, that's the stuff that gets us through the day-to-day stuff, right? That doesn't always feel as as pretty but necessary. But that thought of my students making those choices for themselves and their families being there to cheer them on, I think that's the thing I'm the most excited about.
SPEAKER_00:Well, Natalie, thank you very much for joining us here today.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for having me. It's been an honor to talk and kind of tell about my experience.
