Alumni

Mariely Rivera Hernández

Mariely Rivera Hernández
Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico Cohort Start Year: 2019 Project Topics: Capacity Building, Communications, Leadership Development, Social Sector/Non-Profit Populations Served: Adults (21-64 years), Hispanic/Latino/Latinx, Puerto Rico and other U.S. Territories, Rural Communities, Urban Communities
Executive Director
ChangeMaker Foundation

FOCUS
Mariely is interested in creating an alliance of trainees interested in institutional health to work on concrete strategies related to the incorporation of the equity lens in philanthropic and organizational structures. Also fostering relationships with Culture of Health Leaders alumni who were interested in working on the issue of institutional equity. The purpose would have been to create an institutional equity barometer or index-type instrument that we could have piloted as part of the project.

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE: Pivot Accelerator Leadership Development: Priming Gender Minorities in Data-driven Decision-making
The ChangeMaker Foundation’s strategic initiative, the Pivot Accelerator, addresses gender inequality and the lack of data-driven decision-making in nonprofit leadership. I recognize that data-driven decision-making is a differentiating success factor for nonprofits.Some gender minority leaders lack these competencies, and that contributes to a gap between males and other genders in executive positions. My accelerator seeks to empower gender minorities in leadership roles by helping them develop data-driven decision-making skills through a project-based learning and capacity-building experience. The accelerator focuses on building a data-driven culture, leadership and strategic communications, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. It will also provide participants with the opportunity to PIVOT their organization in pursuit of strategic goals. The initiative will recruit leaders in nonprofit organizations dedicated to women, people with functional diversity, the LGTBQIP+ community, Afro-descendants, people with chronic illnesses, immigrants, rural communities, communities that lack food security, and environmental justice. Partners include three highly competent local nonprofits in the Accelerator’s focus area that can mentor participants and enhance their experience.

MORE ABOUT MARIELY
Mariely would want other people to know about my work, understand our scope, the replicability of our model, and its need for continued support to create broader impact. As a result of this strategic initiative, we have created a project that is able to instill the concept of culture of health in other organizations and have a multiplying effect. In the longer-term we challenge current philanthropic models focused on the immediate and direct provision of services and not the empowerment with the equity lens to which many of today’s nonprofit organizations and social enterprises seek.

Click here to watch Mariely’s Legacy Project video.

MARIELY’S WORK AND VISION

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