Kimberly María Newton de Klootwyk

Mini Bio

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Kimberly was born & raised in El Salvador into a multi-cultural family with roots in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Italy,

U.S.A.

, etc. She has traveled extensively & has lived not only in

El Salvador

, but in

Costa Rica

, Alaska, Washington, New York, Arizona & various parts of California as well. She has been living in San Francisco since 2006 and plans to stay there many years, as she feels she has finally found her ‘home’ among fellow artistic immigrants, and the diverse and progressive residents of the Mission District.

Photo by Amy Seidman (2006)

Kimberly has many identities, as most cultural hybrids and women tend to have. Some of the hats she wears include Mother, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Friend, Student, Educator, Applied Researcher, Communicator, Global Citizen, Immigrant, Cultural Broker, Social Justice Advocate, Environmentalist, Peace Activist, Writer, Hypnotherapist (!), Spiritual Warrior, Volunteer, and Active Community Member.

Born into a family of educators and social entrepreneurs, Kimberly started working with children and youth while still a youth in El Salvador. She quickly realized the power of raising advancing cross-cultural harmony and breaking down barriers of prejudice and racism by teaching monolingual children a second language. Starting as a bilingual spanish/english teachers' assistant for K-8, she was quickly promoted to lead teacher and over time received teaching credentials from the states of Arizona and California.

Since 1994, she has taught second language acquisition, culture and eco-awareness to infants, preschool, K-12, and college students. She has developed, implemented & taught curriculum & educational programs for Spanish immersion, ELL, Latin culture, social responsibility, including an international cultural immersion program for families and youth groups.

From 2004-2007, in response to some inequalities she witnessed in Costa Rica as Senior Program Director of a sustainble development & conservation organization and drawing on her training as an anthropologist and historian, she stepped away from the educational sector a bit and focused on training CEO's and board members of NGO's and corporations working in Latin America on how to integrate in a responsible and respectful way with their Latin American counterparts and the local communities impacted by their projects and business practices.

Thus, in addition to her experience in the educational sector, she has applied experience in the areas of socially responsible program development & management, cross-cultural communications, cultural brokerage, stakeholder engagement, cross-cultural marketing, & social pillar analysis for projects in the public, nonprofit and private sectors. Special focus on transnational triple bottom line businesses, educational communities (i.e. school districts), conservation/environmental nonprofits & international cooperation projects. Basically, she is called in to help them establish cooperative & sustainable cross-cultural relationships with their Latin American stakeholders by analysing their approach & then providing hands on support to help them communicate more effectively across linguistic & cultural barriers.

In 2007 she started a social enterprise, Instituto Conexiones, to continue this area of her work and has since expanded it to a range of educational programs and services related to advancing sustainable, peaceful and equitable globalization.

Upon becoming a new mother again she has been refocusing most of her energy on working with children again, thus she added a special program for children to the offering of Instituto Conexiones. The most recent addition, in pilot stage, is called "Mucho Mas! Spanish Immersion thru Art, Movement and More!" for children 1-10 years old.

Everything Kimberly does is strategically focused on helping connect humanity to each other, their environment & their inner selves. An eclectic and multi-disciplinary thinker, she does this through various applied channels, including helping people on an individual basis (she is a hypnotherapist at night). Her education, certifications, and work experiences reflect this wide range of work.

Areas of Expertise & Applied Research

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* Second Language Acquisition and Instruction (all ages)

* Responsible Cultural Integration (for projects affecting hispanic/Latin communities).

* Cultural Brokerage & Community Relations (Latin Americans-U.S. Americans)

* Social Impact Analysis and Recommendations, particularly for environmental projects.

* Stakeholder Management & Participatory Engagement.

* Translation/In (Spa-Eng).

* Referrals/Contacts for Central America.

* Inter-cultural Conflict Management.

* Organizational & Project Development (in alignment with social and environmental ethics).

* Multi-intelligence education curriculum development - environmental studies, experiential and service-based programs, cultural immersion programs, culture, art, Spanish as a Second Language, English as a Second Language (all ages)

* Hypnotherapy and Past Life Regressions

Professional Experience - Including Clients Managed under Instituto Conexiones (DBA)

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2008 - Present - Primal Echo, LLC - Social Responsibility, Project Management and Cultural Brokerage Support.

2008 - Present - Kimberly Newton de Klootwyk, CCHT, California ● Private practice clinic as a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist (hobby turned second career)

2007 - Present - Instituto Conexiones (& Connections Consortium), California ● Founder of this social enterprise dedicated to advancing equitable and sustainable globalization through educational programs, applied research, advocay and cross-cultural communication services.

2007 - Present - San Francisco Unified School District, California ● Translation & Bilingual Education Services (Substitute, K-12th)

2007 - Present - Atembá Hand Crafted Jewelry, Mexico ● Cultural Brokerage and Cross-Cultural Marketing Liaison (Mexico –

U.S.

)

2007- Present: Buena Vista Alternative Elementary School, San Francisco ● Cultural Interpretation, Cultural Brokerage & Education Support (K-5th grade)

2006- Present: Rainforest2Reef (formerly Friends of Calakmul), U.S./Mexico ● Membership Manager

2006-Present: - The Encanto Project, San Francisco ● Social Responsibility Advisement, Cultural Brokerage, Referrals/Contacts (U.S. - Costa Rica)

2006-Present: - Tico GuideTravel, San Francisco ● Social Responsibility Advisement, Cultural Brokerage, Referrals/contacts (U.S. - Costa Rica)

2005-Present: - Finca Tres Semillas Organic Farm & Mountain Inn, Costa Rica ● Cross-Cultural Market Liaison, Cultural Brokerage, Social Responsibility Consulting, Translation & Language Services & Contacts/Referrals (Costa Rica-U.S.)

2005-Present: - The Costa Rica Volunteer Program, Costa Rica Conservation Trust (CRCT), Costa Rica ● Cultural Brokerage, Social Responsibility Advisement, Cross-Cultural Market Liaison, Development and Implementation, Evaluation Support (U.S.-Costa Rica), Chaperoning for minor participants (15-17 year olds).

2005-Present:- The Connections Experience Cultural Exchange Youth Program, Costa Rica-U.S.● Executive Direction, Development, Implementation and Evaluation of Pilot Program (16-18 year olds).

2004-Present:- Escuela de El Brujo, Costa Rica ● Cultural Brokerage, Fundraising & Program/Project Support (Costa Rica – U.S.) (K-6th grade)

2003-Present: - Costa Rica Conservation Trust (CRCT), San Francisco and Costa Rica · Board of directors, organizational development, executive direction, fund development, grant writing, program direction, social responsibility advisement, cultural broker, contacts/referrals (U.S.-Costa Rica).

2003-Present: - Institute for Cultural Awareness, Arizona● Translation, Misc. Volunteer Services (as needed) - Development supoort in 2003-04

2007: El Brujo Community Sustainable Growth Project & Organic Farming Initiative, Costa Rica ● Fundraising & Development Support

2007: Incredible Places, San Francisco ●Administrative & Proposal Writing Support

2007 - Buena Vista Summer Camp/Buena Vista Child Care ● Bilingual Education and Language Services (Eng-Spa) - (K-5th grade)

2007- Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc. - AVENIDAS Program operated out of the Precita Valley Community Center, San Francisco ● Bilingual Youth Program Development Support (9th-12th)

2007- Producciones Siete Filos, Mexico ●Cross-Cultural Market Liaison, Development Support (Mexico -U.S.)

2007- San Francisco Exploratorium, California ● Cross-Cultural Market Liaison (Hispanic market)

2007- Cross-Cultural Connections Spanish Language School, Utah ● Cultural Brokerage, Program Development Support (U.S.- Costa Rica)

2006-2007 - Planet Art Environmental Workshops, Natural World Museum, California ● Facilitator for Planet Art workshops in Costa Rica and California (K-5th grade).

2004-2007 - Sustainable Management of Pig Farms Project - Diocesis de San Isidro de El General - Pastoral Social de la Tierra and funding from the Spanish International Cooperation Agency (AECI) ● Cultural Brokerage, Program Development, Direction, Execution and Evaluation.

2004-2007 - Telesecundaria de Savegre, Costa Rica ● Cultural Brokerage, Fundraising, and Program Support (Costa Rica-U.S.) (7th-12th grade)

2006 - Friends of the Tropical Science Center - Centro Cientifico Tropical, Costa Rica● Executive Organizational Support & Representation, Cross-Cultural Donor/Partner Liaison, Fundraising Support, Language Services, Cultural Brokerage, Human Resources Support (Costa Rica – U.S.)

2006 - Instituto de Desarrollo Ambiental, Comunitario y Empresarial, Costa Rica● Cultural Brokerage, Cross-Cultural Market Liaison, Referral Service (CR –

U.S.)

2006 - Kopali Communities, Costa Rica● Cultural Brokerage and Referrals/Contacts (U.S. – Costa Rica)

2006 - The Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor and Museum Project, Costa Rica● Fund Raising, Executive Representation, Cross-Cultural Liaison with U.S.Donors, Project Development Support

2006 - Asociación Amigos de Nosara, Costa Rica ● Cultural Brokerage and Referrals (Canada-Costa Rica)

2006- Coalición de Reciclaje, Costa Rica ● Referrals/Contacts (Costa Rica-U.S.)

2005-2006 - Coope Savegre, Costa Rica ● Cross-Cultural Market Liaison Advisement, Human Resources Support, Contacts/Referrals (Costa Rica-U.S.)

2005-2006 - Corredor Biologico Paso de la Danta - Path of the Tapir Biological Corridor /Asociacion Amigos de la Naturaleza Pacifico Central y Sur (ASANA), Costa Rica · Referrals/Contacts, Volunteer Support, Cultural Liaison with Northern portion communities.

2005 - Adventure Education Center & Spanish School, Costa Rica● Bilingual Language and Academic Coordination Services, International Student Support Services, Cultural Brokerage (U.S.-Costa Rica)

2005 - CoopeAgri's La Danta Fair Trade/Sustainably Grown Coffee Project, Costa Rica

● Cultural Liaison Marketing Services, Cultural Brokerage (Costa Rica - U.S.)

2005 - Centro de Derecho Ambiental y de los Recursos Naturales (CEDARENA) Costa Rica ● Translation Services (Spa-Eng)

2005 - The Osa Campaign of The Nature Conservancy, MINAE, Fundacion CR-USA, and Conservation International, Costa Rica● Translation & Language Services (Spa-Eng)

2005 - Proyecto COVIRENAS in the communities of El Brujo & El LLano - of the Costa Rican Protected Areas System (SINAC), Costa Rica ● Cultural Brokerage & Program Coordination

2004 - 2005 - Proyecto Desarrollo Sostenible de la Cuenca Hidrográfica del Río Savegre - ARAUCARIA, El Programa de la Cooperación Española para la Sostenibilidad Ambiental en América Latina, and the Ministry of Energy and Environment (MINAE), Costa Rica · Cultural Brokerage, Program Support

2002 - 2005 - The Discovery Connection Summer Program, Arizona ● Cultural Studies & Bilingual Education, Language & Translation Services (Eng-Spa) (K-5)

2002 - 2004 - Yavapai College, Arizona ● Education & Language Services (Eng-Spa)

2002 - 2004 - Camp Verde Unified School District , Arizona ● English Language Program Direction & Curriculum Development Support, Program Development & District-wide Implementation, Teacher Support, Cultural Broker, Hispanic Liaison, Translation Services, Community Outreach, Curriculum Development & Administrative Support (K-12th grade)

2003-2004 - Earth Dance Multi-Cultural Indigenous Gathering, Arizona● Cultural Brokerage and Language/Interpretation Services (U.S. - Mexico). Coordinator for Children's Camp (all ages).

2002 - Flagstaff Activist Network, Arizona● Cultural Brokerage, Campaign Support (outreach to Latinos)

2001-2002 - Murphy's Restaurants, Arizona ● Customer Service, Translation Services, Cultural Brokerage with Hispanic Employees (Eng-Spa)

2001-2002 - Flagstaff Peace and Justice Coalition, Arizona ● Cultural Brokerage, campaign organizing (outreach to Latinos)

2001 - Mary's Inn Foundation/El Puente de Esperanza Project, Mexico ● Grant writer

2000 - Earth Dance Multi-Cultural Indigenous Gathering, Mexico ● Multi-cultural education and translation services, Coordinator for Children's Camp (all age children)

1999-2000 - Yavapai College, Arizona ● Teachers' Assistant (for English Department)

1999 - Sedona Best Western, Arizona ●Translation Services (Eng-Spa)

1999-2001 - Cottonwood Spanish Play Group, Arizona ● Organizer and Director (2-4 year olds)

1996-1997 - Challenger Middle School ESL Program, Arizona ● Cultural Brokerage, Education & Second Language Support Services, Translation Services (Eng-Spa) (8th grade)

1996 - Glendale Unified School District After-School Program ● Bilingual Education and Language Support Services (Eng-Spa) (K-5th grade)

1996 - Valle Luna Restaurants, Arizona ● Translation Services, Customer Service & Cultural Brokerage with Hispanic Employees (Eng-Spa)

1995 - Kotex, El Salvador ● Bilingual Publicity and Product Representation Support at Product Launch Gala Event

1995 - Gillette, El Salvador ● Bilingual Publicity and Product Representation Support at Product Launch Gala Event

1994 - 1995 - American School of El Salvador, El Salvador● Bilingual Educational Support Services, Cultural Brokerage with parents (Spa-Eng) (1st grade)

1994 - Siemens, El Salvador● Bilingual Publicity and Product Representation Support at El Salvador's International Fair/Expo

1994 - International School of San Salvador, El Salvador● Bilingual Educational Support Services, Educational Tutor (Spa-Eng) (5th-12th grade)

1993 - Hoonah High School, Alaska ● Educational Tutor (9th-11th grade)

1992 - Save a Heart CPR and First Aid Training School, California ● Spanish CPR and 1st Aid Training instruction, administrative support.

1992 - Grossmont High School, California ● Educational Tutor (9th-10th grade)

Publications

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The Hidden Impacts of Conservation and Green Investment Initiatives in Developing Countries" – a Central American Perspective, published in Triple Pundit Magazine and Topix.com, 2007

The Bigger Picture – Socially Responsible Conservation, published in Amigos de Nosara, Utopia Magazine, Quepolandia, The Dominical Days, & Mariri Magazine, 2006

Earth Dance Multicultural Gathering, published in The Cottonwood Journal, 2003

A Latina in White Man’s Clothes, published in The Lumberjack, 2002

Swimming Pools in the Desert?, pubished in Verde Campus Voice, 1999

Beautiful Caterpillar, published in In Dappled Sunlight Poetry Anthology, 1997

Accomplishments

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Mentoring & supporting youth from ranching and logging families in their path towards careers in eco-tourism, sustainable development and environmental activism.
Facilitating the channeling of resources & funds to rainforest communities in Central America for their sustainable development & endangered eco-system protection.
Contributing in some small way to the socially responsible conservation of thousands of acres of rainforest in Calakmul, Mexico
Developing and Launching an International Cultural Exchange Program with no funding or previous experience
Helping raise the funds needed to start the non-profit, Costa Rica Conservation Trust (CRCT)
Developing and establishing a Student Support and English as a Second Language Program (K-12) for over 300 immigrant students in an Arizona School District that previously offered no support to these students.
Leading the establishment of a Waste a Composting & Recycling Program in two rainforest communities with no previous waste management systems.
Motherhood and Marriage
Learning to play the guitar!

Mi Familia - foundation of who I am and the work that I do!

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Just a few of those that fill me with love every day...

My big supportive brothers,
Alex & Harlow Newton
Photo by Tanya Ridino (thanks!)

My eldest son, Joshua
So patient with me...