Ruby Rivera Cruz Email & Phone Number

United States

•Third year leading the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) Action Fund focused on providing approximately $400,000 annually to teams globally to advance TNC’s DEIJ organizational strategy. Have successfully distributed $1.2M USD (29 projects) to TNC’s teams (and partners) globally to advance TNC’s DEIJ organizational strategy and 2030 Goals. • Managed TNC’s North America’s DEIJ Policy Committee, in charge of assessing and addressing gaps and responses to DEIJ in the context of TNC’s policy and advocacy work. • Co-managed TNC’s DEIJ Practitioners Network with the purpose of providing growth and exchange opportunities for DEIJ practitioners across the Conservancy.• Provide subject matter expertise to teams across the organization (including Bezzos Earth Fund: Community Priority Fund, and others) in setting up equitable, transformative, and participatory grantmaking processes and practices to support partners and communities, while levering TNC's financial strength and access.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Developed from-the-ground-up and now manage a learning exchange program designed to enable and empower the growth of new partnerships between TNC and community-based non-profit organizations representing diverse communities throughout the United States.Also, led the development of TNC’s Gender Integration Guidelines for Equitable Conservation and worked closely on a pilot to improve diverse hiring practices.Additionally, I facilitate a range of workshops around engaging across difference, active bystander and unconscious bias.More recently, started leading a Transformative Funding Working Group (WG) within TNC's Cities Network with goals of rethinking current funding mechanisms to ensure that funding can be truly transformative, and be used to:• Leverage the resources, capacity and organizational knowledge of “Big TNC” and the Cities Network to support and strengthen the capacity of community-based organizations;• Redistribute resources, increasing the flow of funding towards community-based groups;• Drive and support a shift away from transactional approaches to an emphasis on the relational with an eye towards partnership and coalition building;• Value the leadership, expertise and self-determination of community-based organizations and environmental justice groups, and shift the dynamic away from the extraction of knowledge to create our preferred outcomes.Within this group, led the launch of TNC's Cities Strategic Relief Fund. A unique project for TNC with the goals of providing emergency relief funding for nonprofit organizations to ensure their ability to provide continuous support and services to environmental justice, frontline and historically marginalized communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maryland

Worked with local place-based organizations and communities to achieve tangible ecosystem improvements through the application of restoration and protection measures in coral reef and coastal ecosystems (i.e. Chesapeake Bay, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, American Samoa etc) helping to achieve long-term protection and resilience. More specifically, managed pollution through direct interventions including green infrastructure, ecosystem restoration practices (such as restoring historic wetlands and mangroves), creating treatment wetlands and biofilters systems. Additionally, worked to establish partnerships between local governments, agencies, educational institutions, and local stakeholders to engage them in restoration and protection activities. Skills: grant writing, permit acquisitions and compliance, illicit discharge detection and elimination, outfall reconnaissance inventories, GIS analysis and creation of interactive maps as outreach tools for all RTR projects.

Beltsville, Maryland

Worked as part of an interdisciplinary team charged with developing behavioral and biocontrol tactics to manage insect pests in urban landscapes. Tasks completed included, the collection of over 200 insect samples from native and non-native plants at the U.S. National Arboretum, preparing over 100 of these insects for identification and DNA extraction and taking high magnification pictures of collected specimens with a stereomicroscope.

El Yunque National Forest, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

Worked as an environmental planning technician for the Forest Plan Revision Assessment at El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico. Completed an evaluation of all existing information relevant to ecological, economic, social conditions, and trends of the forests and their relationship to the land management plan. Additionally, assisted with organizing public hearing meetings to discuss potential future management practices for El Yunque National Forest with local stakeholders. Also, prepared outreach material & other external documents to be presented in a form and at a level suitable for intended audiences (general public or federal government officials).

Las Cruces, New Mexico Area

Developed a research project and report on “Quantification of Lead and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in an Arid Urban Vegetable Garden.”

Flathead National Forest, Montana

Worked with trail, camping and shooting site inventory as part of a watershed management project. Collected GPS data for a study on environmental impacted areas in the Swan Lake Ranger District. As part of the job requirements, learned how to use a Juno Trimble (GPS system), Terrasync program and worked with ArcGIS to prepare GIS layers from the collected data.