Mildred Vazquez a leader for the Hispanic community

Mildred Vazquez, a leader for the Hispanic community A presentation by Rael Brown| NFS 111

Mildred D. Vazquez: A LEADER, A VISIONARY § Created the first work program for Developmentally Disabled Adults that was not connected to a central workshop § Developed an entire department at Ibero Inc, which contained a spectrum of services for minority developmentally disabled individuals. § First Latina in Upstate, NY to get training within the OPWDD to deliver services to and develop programs for the developmentally disabled § Received an Award from the Council of Agency Executives for putting Mission Above Self after saving PRYD from financial ruin

Qualities of a leader § Competent & Confident § Inspirational/Transformational Forward-Looking § Problem Solver

• She started out as an immigrant with English as her 2 nd language. She was raised by parents who had 3 rd and 8 th grade educations, and she had to help raise her four younger siblings in the most under-privileged areas of Rochester. • She is now known as a community leader in Rochester, NY and holds a legacy of being a champion for both minorities and people with developmental disabilities. From rags to riches… CONFIDENCE & COMPETENCE

Determination & Fearlessness |Competence and Confidence| She demonstrates that leadership involves having the confidence in yourself that you can do it. By being confident in your own abilities, you can make others believe it too. By being determined and fearless, because you know you have the ability, you can achieve what so many others could not. She had a mere bachelor’s degree but this didn’t stop her from holding high positions of authority in several agencies: -She became the VP of Ibero American Action League in her early thirties. -She was the administrative Director for Residential Services at the Arc of Monroe County -She was the Executive Director at Puerto Rican Youth Development -She also held a Vice President position at Volunteers of America

Confidence to lead others into uncharted waters § Mildred pioneered many important programs that have transformed the nature of services for minorities and the developmentally disabled within the Rochester community of which I will expand upon now…

ABILITY TO INSPIRE |TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP| • Ibero wanted Mildred to develop and then run their first group home for people with developmental disabilities • She accepted; however, she insisted on taking this a step further and create an entire department of services for those with developmental disabilities • She created a spectrum of services that until her were only being offered within white dominated agencies. Ibero could better serve minority disabled individuals but lacked the services to do so, until my mother transformed this agency • She created • The first work program for developmentally disabled adults not connected to a workshop • Group Homes, Supportive and Supervised apartments for minority, disabled individuals • An expanded case management program

ABILITY TO INSPIRE |TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP| • Mildred became the Executive Director of Puerto Rican Youth Development and Resource Center, Inc. , an agency devoted to serving underprivileged minority youth within the Rochester community. • The agency after being run by her two predecessors, both fired, was in financial crisis, in debt and on the brink of being forced to close its doors and discontinue the programs and services for the children. • The agency was too small to overcome the budget cuts to non for profit agencies and was being denied funding due to its size. • Mildred knew what had to be done; PRYD must merge with a larger agency who could afford to fund overhead costs as well as programming, and the agency best fit for the merger would be Ibero American Action League. • She convinced her board that this would be best for the agency and convinced Ibero as well. • This merger would result in her needing to leave her position which she did. She put the greater good of the community ahead of her own needs. • The Council of Agency Executives presented her with the Mission Above Self Award in 2009 for this action.

IDENTIFY AND SOLVE PROBLEMS • Before Mildred created the department within Ibero which was specially developed for individuals with disabilities, minorities with disabilities did not have an agency that best fit their needs. • She worked for Lifetime Assistance, Inc. which had a problem with an individual as he was very low functioning, lived with a mother who spoke very limited English, and they lived in a very bad neighborhood in the city. • Mildred identified this problem and identified a solution. She approached Ibero to find a case manager for this individual who spoke Spanish and was comfortable with the neighborhoods in Rochester that housed the many minority clients. • This became the breeding grounds for all of the transformational programs that took off from there!

My mother | a community leader | a pioneer| a visionary

Resources § Rue, Leslie W, and Lloyd L. Byars. Management: Skills and Application. Boston: Mc. Graw-Hill Irwin, 2009. Print.