Co-hosts: Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley and United Way Bay Area
Sponsors: Bozzuto & Associates Insurance Services and United Way Bay Area
Calling all womxn leaders in housing! Join us for brunch to recognize, empower, and support your work to bring housing justice to Santa Clara County. We would like to invite both the existing and next generation of womxn leaders dedicated to creating healthy, safe, and intersectional spaces for all.
Speakers
- Dr. Tiffany Manuel — renowned public policy researcher and author of “Case Made! 10 Powerful Leadership Principles that Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Grow Impact”
- Maria Noel Fernandez — Executive Director for Working Partnerships USA, a local organization dedicated to building the capacity of workers, low-income neighborhoods, and communities of color to lead and govern in Silicon Valley.
Learn more about our speakers!
Dr. Tiffany Manuel (DrT) (she/her) has worked with thousands of passionate social changemakers, innovators and adaptive leaders around the United States who are building better, stronger communities that are diverse, equitable and inclusive. She is the author of Case Made! 10 Powerful Leadership Principles that Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Grow Impact as well as many reports, journal articles and scholarly papers.
DrT grew up in Detroit, Michigan during one of the most turbulent times in the city’s history. It was because of the challenges of that experience that she champions better policy, programs, investments and services that can transform our cities and communities for the better. It is also the reason that DrT has worked to expand opportunity, equity and inclusion through 25+ years of professional and volunteer experience spanning the private and non-profit sectors, government and academia.
Trained as a social scientist in quantitative and qualitative methods, she is passionate about translating the insights harvested from her research and practice to improve our ability to build public will around the critical issues that matter most. She holds doctorate and master’s degrees in public policy from the University of Massachusetts Boston, a master’s degree in political science from Purdue University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago.
DrT has serves on numerous nonprofit and social-impact boards, such as Shelterforce Magazine, KaBoom!, Rebuilding Together, and the Redress Movement. She is a lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, an African American public service sorority.
Maria Noel Fernandez brings over a decade of organizing experience to the movement for a just economy. As Deputy Executive Director, she overseas Working Partnerships USA’s organizing, communications, and operations departments, building coalitions and community power to win groundbreaking change for working families.
She is the campaign director for Silicon Valley Rising, a coordinated regional effort that’s inspiring an inclusive tech-driven economy. So far, the SVR campaign has helped over 5,500 service workers in the tech industry organize for better wages and a voice at work.
As Working Partnerships USA’s organizing director from 2014 to 2017, Maria Noel was instrumental in developing organizing and campaign strategies that won a $15/hr minimum wage in eight Silicon Valley cities, the first-in-the-nation Opportunity to Work ballot initiative, and other policies that are improving the lives of working people and their families. She led the organization’s non-partisan civic engagement programs that are building a strong grassroots base of low-income voters of color in Silicon Valley.
Previously, she worked with the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council on successful issue campaigns to raise the minimum wage, pass a general tax for county safety net services, and more. She was district director for the previous California State Speaker Pro Tempore and joined that office after spending three years as a community organizer through Sacred Heart Community Service’s policy and organizing department where she led successful campaigns to protect senior services, defend immigrant rights and increase resources for the most underserved areas of San Jose.
She also spent three years teaching English and Social Studies in Bogota, Colombia after having spent several years working for then-City of San Jose Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez.
Maria Noel lives in south San Jose with her husband, son Tadeo and her dog Rocco. She is a board member of the National Partnership for Working Families.