Deborah Salas holds a Bachelor's degree in Multi-Ethnic Studies from The Evergreen State College, and a Master's in Social Work from the University of Washington.   After spending four years working on the Skokomish Indian Reservation as a family counselor and another year as the Social Services Director for five tribes through the South Puget Intertribal Planning Agency, she came to believe that meaningful community engagement was key to creating a culture that set high expectations for children and youth to succeed.   Upon moving to Seattle, Deborah was hired as the Executive Director of Diversity Dance Workshop (later Diversity Arts Project), a multi-cultural arts organization that uses the arts to address social issues that created barriers to learning for youth.  In this role, she again saw the power of engaging community resources in schools.   In January 2001 she was hired as part of the development team to build a full district community school initiative in Tukwila, Washington, one of the most diverse school districts in the nation.  When the organization became a 501c3 not-for-profit in 2003, she was chosen as the Executive Director.  In 2007, the Tukwila Community Schools Collaboration was chosen for the 2007 Community Schools of Excellence award, receiving significant national attention.  The following year, the organization expanded into the neighboring Highline School District and became Community Schools Collaboration.