Manuel Cadenas is a multilingual, anti-racist educator with nearly two decades of classroom experience. Though he is a proud, first-generation original from the Caribbean coast of South America, he is a community-based partner that calls the "South End" of Seattle his home. He began his teacher preparation at Washington State University, yet he obtained his Bachelors and educator credentials in History from Texas A&M University. After returning to Washington State in the early 2000's, he obtained certification in World Languages from Seattle University, while furthering his studies in Educational Leadership. The man known by his scholars as "Mr. C" has been a World Languages department leader, an International Baccalaureate (IB) instructor, and teacher / liaison for the families of scholars in Heritage-speaker courses. He has served as member of Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) committees, as well as lead for Restorative Justice and Equity Committees in both Seattle and Kent public schools. He has been a passionate advocate and advisor for Latino Club and associate advisor for Black Student Unions. He has also served his colleagues as a union representative within the Seattle Public Schools, and as a liaison for the Kent Educators of Color within Kent Education Association's Executive Board. He is an active, vocal member for the Washington Education Association's Implicit Bias Cadre, where he has built curriculum centered in Restorative Practices. In the fall of 2020, during a pandemic that exacerbated inequities already existent in systems, structures and practices within public schools, Manuel decided to found Solutions By Cadenas, LLC as an agency aiming to repair the harm caused by the discrimination, racism and Anti-Blackness in public schools. Currently, he partners with educators beyond traditional schools and is a consultant to local districts for professional, and personal development in Peacemaking circles and restorative approaches. He believes such practices are not as “tools”, but conduits for collective healing and coexistence in diverse, intergenerational communities. He facilitates Affinity Group / Cohort work as well as Tier II and III mitigations.

I am an Indigenous man, a father, a husband, a brother, an activist; who has served thousands of young adults living in these unceded Duwamish territories. I may have served them as a guide, mentor, or coach... Yet, it has been they who have allowed me the privilege of seeing them bloom and mature; even though I have seen the demise of one too many... I'm eternally grateful to all my scholars, living or no longer with us, along with their families, for sitting in countless community circles and having taught me more than I may have taught them... It has been their field-based instruction to me that I accredit for my expertise...

As a human being, I continually remind scholars that although systems in our society have taught us the fallacy of perfectionism, no one, including myself, is exempt from flaws or making mistakes. I continue to embody that as a consultant. I have always made the effort to exemplify such grace to any of those I've learned next to, young or not-so young, in order to scaffold what we teachers repeatedly profess: to be life-long learners unafraid of failed attempts.

However, it is my lived experience as a first-gen, non-English-speaker immigrant, coming from a single parent household in a large city, with so many intersectionalities, and then moving to rural America to attend public schools that supersedes my professional expertise. The anecdotes from being a teenager and scholar in a different country migrating to another with an entirely different people, language, culture and system have been unique. The first-person accounts derived from graduating out of a public school, seeking acceptance into a university, and enough finances to go to it, working through it to make ends meet, to then becoming a certificated, classroom educator in two entirely different states of the continental US for nearly 20 years is applied to every aspect of my consultations. The formal training I received in PBIS and Restorative Justice as Multi-Tiered Support Systems (MTSS) while teaching has given me not only insight, but practice on what best supports most students, but specifically those who are disproportionally disciplined: our Black and Indigenous children. Although every child is unique, the probability of me knowing the balance of accountability and care needed to progress in order to unlock their genius, while not lowering expectations and providing them care and accountability is rather high. My involvement in extracurricular activities such as with student organizations and athletics enabled me to see that scholars are holistic beings and what they seek it for us adults to care for all their facets, not academics alone. While pursuing a Masters, participating in the different Educational Law courses and through my inner working in union responsibilities provides me a perspective on how to impact education from the viewpoint of decision-makers and reviewers of policy that may have been long removed from the classroom.

In addition, I remain locally involved by working alongside community organizations where my scholars are now employed. Therefore, my connections to young voices are on-going, and they can serve as embassadors to the work they are now scaffolding.

Amongst the services Solutions By Cadenas provides, you may select:

● Education in Restorative Justice and its different applicabilities.

● Training in “Peacemaking” principles & components for Tier I Restorative circles.

● Mediations and/or consultations for Tier II and III interventions

● Facilitation of Cohort/ Affinity Group Work for Scholars or Adults

● Youth Advocacy and Ideation

● Implicit Bias: Intro to Race & Ethnicity Training

● Implicit Bias: Dismantling The Myth of Race Training

● Institutional Racism and White Privilege Training

coach@solutionsbycadenas.com

solutionsbycadenasllc.com