Michelle François

Michelle François is senior director of the National Center for Youth Law's Compassionate Education Systems (NCYL-CES), which aims to improve the educational outcomes of young people experiencing homelessness, involved in the foster care system, and on juvenile probation. NCYL-CES works in local communities to ensure students receive compassion from the many adults entrusted to support them and are guided through high school to the futures they envision for themselves. She also directs the FosterEd California project on behalf of NCYL in support of this CES initiative. She was previously associate director of the Education Equals initiative and Child Welfare program at the Stuart Foundation and program officer at both The Carl and Roberta Deutsch Foundation and First 5 L.A. François has more than 20 years experience working at the intersection of child welfare, education, higher education and community building. She holds a degree from Macalester College.

updated 2024