At Para Los Niños Charter Schools, we know a child’s success in the classroom begins far beyond the classroom walls. Housing stability, access to food and hygiene, mental health, and trust in the school community—all of these are prerequisites to academic achievement. It’s why we don’t just educate students—we support entire families. And few people embody that mission more fully than Zianne Rangel.

Zianne is the Family Specialist at Para Los Niños Charter Middle School (CMS), where she serves as a bridge between the school and the families we serve—many of whom are navigating complex challenges, including homelessness, trauma, and recent immigration. But the title “Family Specialist” only scratches the surface of what Zianne does each day.

Zianne previously worked as an early education teacher at PLN from 2019 to 2022. “I knew I could be of service in a different way.” She returned to PLN in 2023, this time not as a teacher, but as a listener, advocate, systems-builder, and change-maker.

Building Trust, One Conversation at a Time

Much of Zianne’s work starts with trust—trust that she has built through transparency, consistency, and deep care. “I never give false hope,” she says. “If I don’t know something, I say that. But I’ll find someone who does.”

That honesty is what allows families to open up about the most painful parts of their lives: unsafe living conditions, fear of deportation, domestic violence, or the long and dangerous journey to the U.S. Many of the families she works with live in shelters or temporary housing on Skid Row. And yet, they still find their way to her office, often because someone else—another parent, a student, a staff member—said, “Go talk to Zianne.”

During the 2023–24 school year, Zianne helped onboard seven mothers to the Downtown Women’s Center through a partnership supported by PLN’s External Affairs team. This year, she’s helped three more. These are single mothers, many fleeing unimaginable trauma—some nearly killed by a partner, others surviving jungle crossings, cold rivers, or trafficking. “These mothers trust me—and I take that responsibility seriously,” she says.

Systems Rooted in Empathy

Beyond one-on-one conversations, Zianne has built systems to support families more broadly. She’s developed onboarding protocols, streamlined case management workflows, and maintains detailed data tracking for students experiencing homelessness. She’s facilitated mass shoe distributions through nonprofit partnerships, launched an on-campus vaccine clinic through St. John’s Medical, and created a direct line of communication between CMS and local shelters.

“If I can’t reach a parent, sometimes I’ll send a message through their child,” she says. “The students become my partners.”

One of her most meaningful contributions is “Club Hope,” a group for students experiencing homelessness. It’s a space to build community, decompress, and share. “We’ve done emotional check-ins, painted our feelings, made bracelets,” she says. “It’s not technically in my role to run this club, but I still wanted to be part of the family support work.”