Promoted to management position, developing and implementing CASA in Action’s operational field plans for Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania to build power for our working families and immigrant communities through civic engagement. Collaborating with partners to expand democracy initiatives, including vote-by-mail and automatic voter registration, and dismantle voter suppression. Evaluating program implementation and outcomes of past and current work to build practice knowledge and strengthen future operational field plans.

Led CASA’s state legislative advocacy campaigns during the 2018 and 2019 Maryland General Assembly sessions, focusing on the Maryland Dream Act Expansion, Fight for Fifteen, Maryland Trust Act, and community school legislation. Maintained and grew new partnerships with pro-immigrant organizations in Maryland through coalition-building efforts to increase influence and urgency on state lawmakers. Managed CASA in Action’s 2018 Maryland Primary electoral field program in Montgomery County to encourage civic engagement and increase civic participation of Black and Latinx registered voters. Operated the quality control and data management of CASA in Action’s largest field program in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia during the 2018 General Elections. Key Highlights- Increased support for the Maryland Dream Act Expansion during the 2019 Maryland General Assembly, securing enough votes to pass legislation with 2/3 majority- Coordinated 70 office visits with organizing teams to promote priority legislation with shared stories of impacted members and collaborated with communications team to increase digital support from Maryland residents; efforts led to increase support of the Maryland Trust legislation and 2/3 majority vote in the House Chamber- Trained and provided support to 6 field managers that led 150+ civic organizers in civic engagement outreach during the 2018 General Elections; support included daily coaching, skill building exercises and feedback using data analysis

Transitioned roles to manage CASA in Action’s 2017 Virginia Gubernatorial electoral field program in Fairfax County; hired and led a team of 20 field organizers to engage voters from Black and Latinx communities into conversations regarding civic engagement and issues impacting their communities. Maintained internal program dashboards that tracked progress to goals and the VAN database that organized our canvasses.Key Highlights- Developed program materials to guide canvass team in their conversations with voters, including voter engagement scripts based on best practices, issue and candidate talking points, and absentee ballot request walk through- Led team to knock 15,000 + doors and engage in 3,000 + conversations with voters

Oversaw state education advocacy campaigns during the 2017 Maryland General Assembly session, focusing on the Maryland Dream Act Expansion and strengthening English Learners protection under the state’s school accountability legislation. Worked alongside Education Department to increase school infrastructure funds in a local school board budget proposal and assisted parents in sharing their impact stories at school board and county council meetings. Key Highlights- Secured 58 supporters as delegate co-sponsors for the Maryland Dream Act Expansion legislation in its first year of introduction - Organized and delivered 15 written and oral testimonies in support of state education legislation, including a panel of 5 impacted students and teachers for the Maryland Dream Act Expansion committee hearings to draw attention to effects that current law enabled and reasons to expand provisions- Coached 12 parents and students as they prepared to present oral testimony regarding health and limited resource concerns at their local schools at 2 local school board open hearings and a county council budget hearing

Led our education policy initiatives to strengthen school accountability measures that serve English Learning students and mandate equitable school funding through “Supplement, Not Supplant” guidance. Worked alongside national civil rights and education advocacy partners to influence members of congress on strengthening equitable school funding and school accountability measures in the federal legislation Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) prior to its passage. Managed the Cafecito workshops that informed parents of new testing standards in their state and impacts caused by the new federal law ESSA.Key Highlights- Ran 15 Cafecito workshops in 5 states for over 800 parents and students to discuss impacts of higher education standards on Latinx communities and build effective engagement skills to advocate for their children with teachers and the school system - Developed an online bilingual education resource tool kit for parents and students to increase awareness and guidance of the Common Core State Standards, the PARCC examination and associated score report- Led 21 advocacy hill visits alongside our LULAC members with members of congress to discuss concerns from our Latinx communities with education and child nutrition issues affecting our students

Program manager for the Ready, Set, Go! Initiative

Developed program plans to increase Alliance for Justice’s advocacy capacity evaluation work, including a redesign of the organization’s Advocacy Capacity Tool (ACT), a tool used to capture an organization’s capacity to conduct advocacy work. Analyzed ACT responses to share with foundations the areas of advocacy non-profit groups sought to build capacity in. Analysis report cited in advocacy evaluation theory and practice academic journal.Key Highlights- Produced 45-page evaluation report analyzing advocacy capacity responses from 280 unique organizations using statistical analysis tools; findings utilized to create capacity-building resource content and inform foundations on how to assistance non-profit capacity building- Developed an exploratory survey to investigate how non-profit groups’ use the advocacy capacity tool; findings led to content creation that addressed process of developing effective advocacy plans

Led one-on-one conversations with Montgomery County Public School students attending the county’s alternative school program to create goal-oriented and skill-building improvement plans. Advocated for improved teacher conduct for students needing additional support. Developed and conducted exploratory survey of 29 mental health practitioners’ treatment planning approach with adolescents to determine racial biases affecting treatment delivery and practitioner-client trust building.Key Highlights- Held 12 weekly 30-minute to 1-hour sessions with 14 students to create goal-oriented work plans that led to increase school performance, employment, completed community service hours, and improved decision-making skills; 6 students successfully transitioned back to their home schools. - Presented key findings of exploratory survey to organizational leaders, highlighting significant impact a practitioner’s race has on treatment planning with Black and Latinx adolescents.

Guided community members seeking health insurance and food assistance through the state Medicaid and SNAP benefit application process and bridged them to local workforce and school-related resources. Worked alongside nurse practitioners to conduct community needs assessment that highlighted limited access to county assistance due to language and immigrant-status barriers.Key Highlights- Designed client service database using Microsoft Access to improve program documentation and service history tracking; led to an initial 10% increase in follow-up conversations and timely state benefit application completion- Enhanced community outreach through a partnership with the local Catholic Community Center, leading to an increase of community members served; 400+ one-on-one meetings with community members to provide application assistance held at the community center- Translated and mediated 100+ conversations for Spanish-speaking community members with external medical, social service and community resource personnel