United States President, Joe Biden, announced today, his intent to nominate three additional individuals, Leslie Bluhm, Lisette Nieves, and Flor Romero, to serve on the Board of Directors of AmeriCorps.
They have extensive experience in public policy, national service, and community engagement. You will find their bios below, Mal Coles, Acting Chief Executive Officer of AmeriCorps said in a statement expressing delight at the development.
“As many of you know, members of our Board are nominated by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. With these nominations, AmeriCorps will now have eight Board members pending Senate confirmation.
“The Board provides overall guidance to the agency and senior leaders, promotes our initiatives and programs, builds relationships with key stakeholders, and elevates national service and volunteerism through engagement and partnerships.
“We will track the process and announce their confirmation through our public channels, refraining from public comment until then.
“We are delighted that President Biden has nominated such experienced and accomplished leaders to help advance our mission at this critical time for national service.”
Leslie N. Bluhm is a social entrepreneur who empowers people to tackle challenges through collaborative action. In 1991, she co-founded Chicago Cares, Inc., the city’s leading volunteer service organization.
Chicago Cares builds group volunteer programs that meet the critical needs of the community while using the volunteer experience to educate volunteers from diverse communities about each other; building trust, empathy, and connection.
Leslie was named one of six Chicagoans of the year by Chicago Magazine and was named to Crain’s 40 under 40. She serves on the board of directors of Chicago Cares, The Chicago Community Trust, The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, OneGoal, Whitney Museum of American Art, Shining Hope for Communities, and Rush Street Interactive, Inc.
She earned a bachelor’s from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School. She and her husband David Helfand reside in Chicago and have two sons.
Lisette Nieves is the president of the Fund for the City of New York (FCNY), charged with developing and helping to implement innovations in policy, programs, practices, and technology to advance the functioning of government and nonprofit organizations in New York City and beyond. Lisette is also a Distinguished Clinical Professor with NYU, overseeing doctoral students and supporting change and innovation research initiatives in the doctoral program Leadership and Innovation, which she co-founded.
Lisette has also served in a variety of cross sector leadership positions. She is an experienced social entrepreneur and public sector leader. She supported community social entrepreneurs and educators through her prior work with Lingo Ventures, a company she co-founded focused on growth, talent recruitment/retention, and change management.
Lisette also served as the Belle Zeller Distinguished Visiting Professor in public policy at the City University of New York at Brooklyn College. Lisette was the founding executive director of Year Up NY, an innovative workforce development program, where, in the span of five years, she grew the organization from a $250,000 seed grant to a $6 million operation with over 20 corporate partnerships.
Her interest in workforce and education led to her dissertation on the relationship between student work and school roles, for which she received the 2016 Dissertation of the Year Award by the National Council on Student Development.
Lisette also began her career in service serving full time in New York as a City Volunteer Corps member before she attended Brooklyn College for her undergraduate degree. She was also a proud team member of the launch of the AmeriCorps program under the Clinton administration.
Lisette holds a bachelor’s from Brooklyn College, a bachelor’s/master’s from the University of Oxford, Master of Public Administration from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and a doctorate with distinction in higher education management at the University of Pennsylvania.
She is a Truman Scholar, Rhodes Scholar, Aspen Pahara Fellow, and a 2020 Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellow. Her board affiliations include the Edwin Gould Foundation, AVID, The Education Trust, NewSchools Venture Fund, Jobs for the Future, Stand for Children, Ellevation, and a trustee of the New York Public Library.
Flor Romero is the daughter of first-generation Salvadoran immigrants. Flor is a social worker who has dedicated her career to historically marginalized communities through equity and access initiatives.
At age 14, Flor realized the importance of resources that were missing in her hometown to help the community thrive. As a psychology major at UCLA, she found a work-study job that aligned with her passion and goals: Jumpstart, an early education AmeriCorps organization dedicated to helping bridge the achievement gap between minority students and their affluent peers.
For her four years at UCLA, Flor stayed with Jumpstart, which inspired her to pursue a master’s degree in social work with a focus on social change and innovation at the University of Southern California.
Throughout her career, Flor has led community-focused projects, working with stakeholders and leaders on foster care and adoption, mental health, education, and more.
During her time at the University of Southern California, she spearheaded a successful reading program across the Los Angeles Unified School District – the second-largest school district in the nation – working closely with schools in Los Angeles County and increasing reading among students. She currently works at Fraser Communications on accounts that strive for equal opportunity.
