Our Board of Directors
The Hudson County Latino Foundation's Board of Directors sets the vision and direction
of the Foundation.The all-volunteer Board is responsible to oversee the Foundation's business functions and acts as financial stewards for our programs.
The Board is comprised of five standing committees and a special committee. All committee chairs serve for a fixed period of a 1-year term and are elected during the Foundation's annual re-organizational meeting.
Vanessa Trinidad
Chairwoman of the Board of Directors &
Chair, Executive Committee-
A message from our Chairwomen
As a Latina and Hudson County native, I could not be more thrilled to be offered the opportunity to give back to my community. It’s always been a passion and desire of mine to come back to where I was born and raised and effect change in my hometown and Hudson County. I was born in Hoboken, NJ to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother, the former of whom had recently arrived to the country. My mother spent years raising my sister and I on her own and instilled in us the importance of education as a key to success. I spent my elementary and middle school years as a student at Thomas A. Edison School in Union City. Through hard work and dedication to my educational aspirations, I was offered the opportunity to attend a private high school on a full scholarship by the program NJ Scholars, Educators, Excellence, Dedication, and Success (SEEDS). This invaluable experience launched my educational trajectory, culminating in undergraduate and graduate degrees from Columbia University.
My experience, however, is not a common one for youth belonging to marginalized groups residing in Hudson County. It is this very fact that drives my work as an educator and fuels my educational philosophy, which proposes that all students, regardless of their racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic background deserve access to an excellent education. This belief has also propelled my desire to return to my own community and pay it forward.
As Chairwoman of the Hudson County Latino Foundation, I aspire to instill this culture of returning to our communities and making them better day by day. Through our work we provide access to education, healthcare, financial literacy and immigration services for residents of Hudson County. With a strong focus on education for all, I hope to engage members of the community in our efforts as well as work closely and learn from the residents to form a collective. I look forward to joining forces with other organizations in order to expand our efforts working alongside key players such as educators, health care providers and advocates that are on the frontlines. I look forward to an excellent and successful year in building relationships and providing the absolute best for our community together.
Yours truly,
Vanessa
