volunteer service
VOLUNTEER SERVICE
- Right after I arrived in Nashville in 1996 I volunteered at Nashville General Hospital as a Spanish-English interpreter in the Emergency Room on Sundays for several months.
- Starting in 1997 on Tuesday evenings for more than four years, while working at United Way of Metro Nashville during the day, I co-hosted a radio show in Radio Melodías, one of the first Spanish-language radio stations in Nashville. The volunteer project with local attorney Mary Griffin was the initiative of an informal --but ambitious-- group, Alianza Latina, which gathered six women (including Ana Escobar, who in 2018 would become Nashville's first Hispanic judge) interested in serving the city's emerging Latino population. In many ways, the people and issues I encountered throughout this volunteer endeavor would later serve as inspiration to co-found Conexión Américas to fill a growing community void.
Pictured above, Mary and I were featured on the cover story of The Tennessean's Sunday weekly Women magazine in December 2000. (By the way, I was expecting my second child then. Maybe that's why Carrie Ferguson described me as an "introvert," the only time I ever been called an introvert! I am sure she wouldn't say that today.)
- Thirteen years later I would have the privilege of a liftetime and serve 10 years (2009-2019) on the board of directors of UnidosUS, the largest Latino advocacy and civil rights organization in the nation. As Chair from 2015-2018, I led the board at a critical time as the organization prepared for its 50th anniversary and carried out its historic rebranding from National Council of La Raza (NCLR) to UnidosUS.
- I currently serve on the board of UnidosUS Action Fund, a Latino advocacy organization "that works to expand the influence and political power of the Latino community through civic engagement and issue-based campaigns."
Other current board service includes:
- Belcourt Theater, Secretary, Board of Directors
- Nashville’s Agenda, Executive Committee
- Nashville Civic Design Center, Board of Directors
- Nashville Convention Center Authority, Commissioner
In the past, I have served on the following boards and committees:
- Abintra Montessori School, Board of Directors
- Advisory Council to Tennessee First Lady Andrea Conte, Member
- Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Member, Community Outreach Council
- Knoxville Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors
- Mayor’s Immigrant and Refugee Advisory Council, Founding Member
- Nashville for All of Us Coalition, Founding Member and Steering Committee Member
- Nashville Child and Youth Master Plan Task Force, Co-Chair
- Nashville Housing Fund, Board of Directors
- Nashville Public Education Foundation, RESET, Co-chair
- Nashville Symphony, Board of Directors
- Tennessee Fair Housing Council, Board of Directors
- Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Board of Directors
- Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association, Board of Trustees
- Woodbine Community Organization, Member, Hispanic Services Advisory Committee