APC 2015 Alumni Darline Guerrero shares her story from preschool teacher to Executive Director.
Darline Guerrero knew she was passionate about education since she was 17. After she graduated from high school, she started teaching at the Child Development Center in Southern California, where she was born and raised. She points to her childhood as the reason why she pursued a career working with youth.
“It’s a very long, long personal journey, but I grew up in a very abusive, low-income family, and I had a lot of trauma in my life. I got emancipated when I was 16 to leave my family, and I knew that I wanted to work with children,” she said, “My focus from the very beginning was that I wanted to work with young children and to make sure that if I saw children who were experiencing harm, that there was someone fighting for them.”
Guerrero moved to Rainier Beach over 20 years ago to begin working at Bright Horizons in 2002, beginning as a preschool teacher, then program coordinator, and working her way up to become Center Director.
She then participated in SESEC’s flagship program, Advocacy and Policy Cohort, during its pilot year in 2015.
“What I’ve learned from my experience from SESEC, is just really about elevating the voices of people of color, and not shying away from hard conversations and doing a lot of internal work, internal processing. I think is really important,” she said.
At the time, she worked at Launch Learning as the Director of Operations, formerly known as the Community Day School Association. The organization was the first after-school private child-care program to operate within Seattle Public Schools (SPS) when it started in 2011. She became involved in SESEC due to Launch’s operations in Southeast Seattle schools and attended regular coalition meetings.
“What I loved about SESEC the most was that it was just a close community of people who were really dedicated to education. I also appreciated that it wasn’t all educators. Oftentimes, SESEC brought in policymakers or school district board members or did the training on equity work or advocacy work,” she said.
When she was working at Launch, she was also an original proponent for the Seattle Preschool Program and had the opportunity to go on a study tour to Boston and Washington, D.C., to research different childcare models.
“I think the one thing that I feel like I had a huge part in, is the importance of having a mixed model, where the Seattle Preschool Program is offered both in a school district and through a community-based organization”, she said, “What we learned on the study tour, when we went across the country, was that’s not always the case. There are some districts where it’s all district-run, and there are states where it’s community-based run. And so I really appreciate that the City of Seattle took a piece of what we learned and created a mixed model delivery.”
Today, SPP has served more than 6,300 children across the city and provided free to affordable preschool for families on a sliding scale based on family size and household income.
During her tenure at Launch, in 2015, she also began working at North Seattle College as the Early Childhood Education Instructor & Student Advisor, adding to her extensive early childhood education experience with postsecondary education.
“I’ve worked with every age group. I’ve done infancy all the way through college. I taught at North Seattle College and Lake Washington Technical College, and then I’ve been an educator in a classroom or with children under five for years before I got into administration,” she said.
In 2019, she was tapped to become Executive Director of Hilltop Children’s Center and Outreach Institute, which provided childcare and promoted education advocacy in Queen Anne, a predominantly white community.
“I was the first person of color that was hired for that organization, and the amount of work I did over my tenure there was challenging to say the least, because it was dismantling a lot of prejudices that people don’t even know that they know, that they have,” Guerrero said.
During her tenure, she hired more staff members of color and conducted more outreach to BIPOC families. As a result, faculty and families served went from being 8% of the total population to 50% when she left her position in October 2025. Guerrero also expanded early learning access for the nonprofit’s constituents by securing state and city tuition assistance programs. She enrolled Hilltop in the Seattle Preschool Program (SPP) in partnership with the City’s Department of Education and Early Learning.
In a statement released by the Hilltop Board of Directors, they described her achievements as: “Her vision extended to program innovation – adding infant care, expanding capacity, and enhancing outdoor play spaces. She introduced new services such as transportation for after-school care and improved meal programs through a kitchen expansion. Darline also strengthened Hilltop’s voice in the broader early childhood education field by building relationships with political leaders and advocating for systemic improvements.”
Ten years later, when asked about the long-term impact of participating in Advocacy and Policy Cohorts, she emphasized the relationship-building skills she learned and how to speak effectively to policymakers, which she utilized in her most recent role.
“What I remember the most is that the work was both personal and professional. So it was a lot about how do you represent yourself and how do you share stories,” she said, “It’s not just about data and analytical processes. It’s also about narrating the story behind things and how people understand it. So, I think I’ve learned a lot, and that’s one of my takeaways is really, and I use that a lot.”
During this transition period, she is taking time to pause and evaluate her goals.
“My next step, I’m really uncertain. I’m kind of in this place of self-reflection. Leaving Hilltop was a hard choice for me. I’ve never been without a job in my whole life, I’ve always worked”, she said, “I really believe in that organization. But my last six years were really hard. It was really challenging.”
What hasn’t changed is her passion for advocacy work in education and uplifting underrepresented voices. She is considering working on education policy, studying early childhood education globally, or staying in direct service. Whatever her future career path may be, she has left a strong international impact on families and students across Seattle in the 20 years she has served as an advocate.
Author: Hong Ta is the Marketing and Communications Coordinator at the Southeast Seattle Education Coalition. Have a suggestion for our Advocacy and Policy Cohort highlight series? Email her at [email protected].