SEEDS Blog
Meet Cecilia Polanco : Our New Executive Director!

Meet Cecilia Polanco : Our New Executive Director!

Published Tuesday, Feb 4, 2020

The board and staff at SEEDS are thrilled to announce the appointment of Cecilia Polanco as SEEDS’ Executive Director. 

Originally from El Salvador, she has lived in Durham for the past 27 years, where she attended Durham Public Schools and graduated from Northern High School in 2011. She then graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2016, where she was a Morehead-Cain Scholar and Global Gap Year Fellow. She majored in Global Studies with a focus on Health and the Environment, and Latin America, minored in Geography and earned a certificate in Business from Kenan Flagler. She has since been working on launching and scaling So Good Pupusas, a social justice food truck, and Pupusas for Education, a last dollar scholarship fund for undocumented students. She is a community activist entrepreneur with a long history of work with youth and on various social justice issues surrounding food and environmental justice. She is also a mental health advocate and believes that education can enable us to free ourselves and others, and that love is the root of our relationship with ourselves, each other, and mother Earth.

Cecilia brings with her a long history in Durham and a strong background in engaging with communities to empower themselves and be a force for social change. As she puts it, “In the words of the phenomenal Selena, “me siento muy… excited!” As I transition out of other roles I have previously had, I believe they all prepared me to lead an organization at this level in partnership with SEEDS’ amazing staff. I am humbled and honored to serve Durham youth and the community, while putting to work the extensive skills and strengths I have developed, in a job where I can show up as my full self. It is a dream for me to work so close to home, close to my family, in the community that raised me. I’m excited to continue the work of SEEDS and work towards a long term vision that cedes power back into the community and to our young people. Like the issues we are facing, our solutions must be complex, intersectional, working at both a direct service and systems level, and in it for the long haul. I’m ready to get started! Los esperamos en SEEDS!”

Cecilia’s first day with SEEDS is February 4. Please join us in welcoming her as our new Director!