The Boston Foundation announced it is welcoming renowned community development professional Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, Ph.D. to the foundation’s Board of Directors. Since 2003, Dr. Calderón-Rosado has led IBA—Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, a non-profit and community development corporation which started in the South End of Boston to address the displacement of low-income families due to urban development. During Vanessa’s tenure, IBA has achieved a dramatic financial, operational, and programmatic turnaround, positioning it as the largest Latino-led nonprofit in Greater Boston.
“Vanessa has been a leader in the community for more than a decade, and has proven her abilities on issues from education to housing, all the while serving as a powerful voice advocating for and with the Greater Boston Latino community,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “She has earned admiration and respect across the city, and we look forward to working with her more in the future.”
Dr. Calderón-Rosado has worked with the Boston Foundation in multiple capacities over the past decade. She currently serves as a co-chair of the Massachusetts United for Puerto Rico Fund and on the Advisory Board of the Latino Legacy Fund at the Boston Foundation. A Puerto Rican native, she graduated from University High School in San Juan, and earned her BA from the University of Puerto Rico.
In 2010, Dr. Calderón-Rosado became the first Latina in Massachusetts history appointed to the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. In November 2013, Mayor-elect Martin Walsh appointed her to co-lead his housing transition team. In April 2014, Mayor Walsh appointed her as a member of his newly formed Housing Task Force. She currently serves as clerk of the Franklin Square House Foundation, president of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations, a trustee of Eastern Bank, and as a member of community and diversity advisory councils for the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. She also is a founding board member of the Margarita Muñiz Academy, the first dual-language innovation high school in Massachusetts.
