Monica Dixon

As Senior Director of Solutions, Monica Dixon leads the design and continuous improvement teams who are dedicated to cultivating and inspiring the youth support ecosystem that provides young people with more equitable access to the relationships and resources they need to thrive. In her role she is focused on creating and improving Search Institute's solutions portfolio including resources, tools, professional learning experiences, measurement tools and continuous improvement that empowers organizations to make meaningful change in their programs and practices.

Prior to joining Search Institute, Monica led statewide, district and school planning, professional learning, and implementation and evaluation of an Equity-based Multi-Tiered System of Support (EBMTSS) with the SWIFT Education Center. Her passion for youth development began over two decades ago, while working with an out of school time program, supporting youth in under-resourced communities, which led her to become a high school social studies teacher for 17 years, furthering her dedication to improving outcomes for young people.

She spent more than 20 years in a large urban school district as a youth driven and justice focused classroom teacher, school, and district leader, working to close the gap with historically marginalized students in AP and Honors Courses.

Monica has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education and an MS in Secondary Education from University of Nebraska at Omaha, and an Ed.S. in K-12 Superintendency from Northwest Missouri State University. As a practitioner with decades of experience serving youth in and out of school, Monica believes that true expertise rests with listening, learning and using systems thinking and implementation science to organize adults and communities to prioritize a true sense of belonging for youth.