Born and raised in Detroit, Marlana attended Michigan State University before receiving her bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan and earning her Specialist and Doctorate in Education Leadership at Eastern Michigan University. She has spent almost 30 years working in community education, some of which had traditional K-12 and administrative responsibilities thrown in. Throughout her years in community education, Marlana has never had a hard time finding inspiration in “the people, promise of our approach, and the pressing needs presented by our students and community,” she said.
“The field of community education was born out of response to overwhelming student needs, back in the times of great depression and hardships. Our current economic and social challenges echo those times, and call for us to work together to create new solutions,” Marlana said. “Status quo will simply not due when we have thousands of students dropping out of high school, not prepared for our global economy, thousands more unemployed or underemployed adults not functioning at career-ready levels, and early childhood education at risk of elimination. We know how to make our local plans work, and it is up to us to unite our stakeholders for our community.”