Alejandra Chiesa

Green Schoolyards America

As Vice President and California State Director at Green Schoolyards America, Alejandra Chiesa oversees the organization’s expanding work in the State. She provides strategic leadership to develop and implement emerging and future programs with school districts, public agencies and non-profit partners, in collaborative efforts to bring the green schoolyard movement to scale.

Prior to joining Green Schoolyards America, Alejandra led the Bay Area Program at the Trust for Public Land (TPL) for over ten years, where she worked extensively with communities of color in the Bay Area to launch initiatives, secure funding, and develop parks and open spaces to advance park and health equity. She was instrumental in launching and implementing the Oakland Living Schoolyards Initiative, a partnership between the Oakland Unified School District, Green Schoolyards America and TPL, which is transforming asphalt playgrounds into green spaces for students and their communities.

Alejandra’s passion focuses on advancing green space equity and access to nature with the goal of improving health and climate resilience. She has twenty years of experience as a landscape architect and extensive experience working with school districts, public agencies, funders, non-profit partners and communities to develop and implement systems change and policies to achieve large and long lasting impacts in green space equity. Alejandra is originally from Uruguay and holds a dual Masters in Biology and Landscape Architecture from the University of Michigan.