Sharing a Common Goal: A Qualitative Study on the Challenges Face by New York City’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Possible Role of Advocacy Organizations in Helping to Overcome Them

Mariestella is a 2001 psychology graduate of Fordham University and earned a Master’s degree in urban education from Temple University in 2004.  As a VISTA Volunteer in a Philadelphia inner city high school, she worked with the Urban Nutrition Initiative educating low-income communities about healthy eating while supporting locally-grown produce and community gardens.  She is originally from Puerto Rico, and as a Latina she is especially drawn to the ways in which policies affect and shape the lives of minorities and other economically and politically disenfranchised groups.