Erica Maria Acevedo’s involvement with National Urban Fellows has come full circle.  Upon moving to New York City from Rhode Island, Erica landed a position at National Urban Fellows as Program Associate.  In this role Erica managed all Mentor communication and processes such as recruitment, Mentor-Fellow interviews, placement logistics, and conference planning.  She worked closely with the Program Director and President on funding proposals and program outcomes to Mentors and 3^rd party funders.

Erica’s professional career in the non-profit sector started with Progreso Latino, Inc. in Central Falls, Rhode Island in 2005.  Serving the Latino community state wide, Progreso Latino is the largest, most established community social service agency in the state. Erica held the position of Academic Case Manager for the Adult Education Department.  In this role, she created a new operations system for the department’s new student assessment tool and assisting staff as well as ESL & GED instructors on its use and implementation.  Within a year, she was promoted to Director of the Carrusel Preschool and Afterschool Program of the Early Childhood Education Department.

As a strong advocate for English Language Learners, she was recommended to serve as alternate Community Representative on the Executive Committee of the Rhode Island Advisory Council for English Language Learners.  She also served on the Community Based Organization-Minority Workgroup for the state’s Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) State Incentive Grant (SIG) working with four community based organizations on capacity building.

Erica graduated from Brown University in 2004 with a double major in Latin American Studies and Portuguese & Brazilian Studies.  During which time, she participated in a study abroad program in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Puebla, Mexico.  She also obtained her Master of Arts in Teaching, focusing on History/Social Studies in Secondary Education.  A daughter of Mexican, migrant farm-workers, Erica was born and raised in the rural San Joaquin Valley, California.

Erica aspires to continue working within the non-profit sector so that she can be an agent of change in her community.  As a National Urban Fellow, she looks forward to establishing life-long professional relationships with her colleagues, and the NUF network of Alumni and Mentors.