FPWA
Fulfilling the Promise of Opportunity
FPWA
Fulfilling the Promise of Opportunity
Raysa has more than twenty years of experience in government and nonprofit leadership, management and service. Some of her recent accomplishments include successfully advocating for city legislation that raises the value of rent subsidies to dramatically increase the availability of affordable and permanent housing for families; improving education equity for students in temporary housing with expanded city-level funding; and effectively advocating for youth justice reform with state legislation that ends the arrest and prosecution of children under 12.
Most recently, Raysa served as Associate Executive Director for Policy & Advocacy at Citizens’ Committee for Children, an independent child advocacy organization working to ensure all children are healthy, housed, educated and safe. In this capacity, she advanced budget and legislative priorities to promote child, family and community well-being. As Vice President of Policy and Planning at WIN, NYC’s largest provider of family shelter and supportive housing, Raysa led efforts to improve outcomes for families experiencing housing insecurity through program performance metrics, staff training on evidence-based practices, grants management, and policy and advocacy strategies to transform systems. She served as United Way of New York City’s Associate Vice President for Education, spearheading initiatives that spanned the developmental continuum from early childhood through K-12, and built evidence-informed policy solutions. During Mayor Bloomberg’s administration, she served as Senior Advisor on Children’s Issues for the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, supporting strategies aimed at reducing poverty and strengthening early care and education. Earlier in her career she served as a public school teacher in the Bronx, where she was born and raised.
Raysa earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Development from Cornell University and a Master of Social Work from Columbia University, where she is an Adjunct Professor.
