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Dr. Felipe Mercado has served education in various roles over the last decade such as principal, deputy principal, vice-principal, college professor, counselor, and social worker. He is the founder of Wise Souls. Felipe has earned a Master’s in Social Work and a Doctorate in Education and Leadership. His work is concerned with supporting educators and schools in working with parents and communities to build communal, civically engaged schools rooted in intersectional social justice with the goal of creating equitable school systems across America. Dr. Mercado is a sought-after consultant and public speaker on a range of topics, including Compassion as Cultural Competence, Compassionate Leadership, Equity, Social-Emotional Learning, Behavior, and Curriculum Design, Trauma-Informed Practices, and How to Embrace Diversity and Inclusion in any setting. He believes that his personal experiences of growing up in a life of poverty and being homeless at an early age have ultimately shaped his moral compass and leadership qualities. Dr. Felipe Mercado was the recipient of the CSU, Fresno Health and Human Services “Community Hero” award in 2019. His dissertation utilized social-psychological interventions to promote equity and wellbeing for students of color. Felipe created the Wise-Compassionate Framework (WCF), which is a trapezoid model that adds to the work of MTSS.