The Why
Across youth programs—whether in expanded learning, after-school spaces, or community-based organizations—there is a shared commitment:
To create environments where young people can grow, connect, and thrive.
And yet, many of these spaces are carrying complex expectations without the support needed to consistently meet them.
Programs are asked to:
At the same time, the leaders holding these spaces are navigating:
What often goes unaddressed is not the level of care, but the level of support for designing the environments so these outcomes become possible.
This is the gap my work responds to.
Because when youth spaces are not intentionally designed, even the most thoughtful programs can feel inconsistent, difficult to sustain, or overly dependent on individual staff.
I believe that young people deserve spaces where they feel seen, heard, and loved—and that the leaders holding those spaces deserve the tools, language, and support to design them with intention.
The Method
Sentipensante Connections is an educational consulting practice focused on designing transformative youth spaces.
My work centers on the relational and pedagogical conditions that shape how young people experience learning environments.
Rather than focusing only on activities or programming, I support leaders in developing a design lens—one that allows them to intentionally shape:
The work is guided by Magic • Play • Love™, a sentipensante framework rooted in liberatory pedagogy and arts-based practice.
This framework supports leaders in understanding how to design environments that nurture creativity, connection, and well-being—not as isolated outcomes, but as conditions that are intentionally cultivated.
At its core is a sentipensante approach—one that honors thinking and feeling as inseparable, and recognizes that meaningful learning is both intellectual and embodied.
Drawing from culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogy and lived practice, I meet each context with care and intention—supporting leaders in designing environments where young people can meaningfully engage, create, and grow.
The Founder
Dr. Vianney A. Gavilanes is an educator, scholar, and pedagogical designer whose work focuses on the creation of transformative youth spaces.
She brings over a decade of experience in culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogy, grounded in both academic training and community-based practice.
Dr. Gavilanes bridges research and practice with a scholar’s mind and a corazón de poeta, guiding educators and leaders in developing the sentipensante mindset, sensibilities, and predispositions needed to engage in this transformational work.
She weaves together critical pedagogy, youth development, and creative practice to support leaders in designing environments that center connection, cultural grounding, and relational care.
Her work is deeply informed by Liberando Nuestras Voces, a creative writing and arts program for middle school Latina girls, where she has seen firsthand how intentionally designed environments can support identity development, confidence, and voice.
Through Sentipensante Connections, she partners with youth-serving leaders and organizations to bring this work into broader contexts—supporting the design of youth spaces where young people feel seen, heard, and loved.