Greater Twin Cities United Way
404 S. 8th St.
Minneapolis
MN
55404-1084
Email:
amaris@unitedwaytwincities.org
Biographical Sketch: VVictoria is a native of Bogota, Colombia who has lived in the United States since childhood. She has 25 years experience as a consultant in the areas of social research, health, program development and cross-cultural communication. She organized the Hispanic Health Network of Minnesota in 1993 and continues to serve as a consultant for the group. The HHN conducts health forums for Latinos under the theme Como Vivir de una Manera Saludable a Todas la Edades (Healthy Habits for a Lifetime) and advises on cultural competence issues related to Latinos and convenes networking meetings for providers and community.
In addition, she is the Cultural Dynamics Program Manager at the Greater Twin Cities United Way. Primary areas of responsibility include capacity building and technical assistance in the area of cultural competence and crosscultural communication to non-profit organizations, community building, and citizen participation. She trains organizations and conducts sessions utilizing an innovative model, the United Way’s Cultural Complementarityä which has been successful in building cultural competence in a variety of arenas including as an organizational tool, in the faith community, local governments, the Minnesota Police Corp. Her previous work has focused on the areas of advocacy, health, leadership development, social research, including conducting the first focus groups with Hispanics in Minnesota for the Minnesota Department of Health and was the Research Director for the State of Minnesota’s Chicano Latino Affairs Council, an agency that advises the governor, legislators, and agencies on issues and concerns of Hispanics.