Laura Valdéz, Executive Director

Laura Valdéz directs the strategy, growth, and operations of Nuestra Casa. Prior to becoming Executive Director of Nuestra Casa, Laura Valdéz was selected as a National Urban Fellows scholar, and received a Masters in Public Administration. She has over 15 years of leadership experience in the nonprofit field and in community-based organizing. She served as the Director of School & Community Services for East Bay Agency for Children, a nonprofit organization providing programs and services to children, where she managed six complex programs in four different cities, provided overall budget oversight to a three million dollar budget, insured fiscal and program compliance to all department funding streams including six figure multi-year foundations grants, school district, city, county, and state contracts. Ms. Valdéz was one of five senior managers responsible for organizational decision making, strategic planning, and overall organizational development and leadership.

Ms. Valdéz strongly believes in equal access to community resources for all, and recognizes the unique struggles that face people of color and the immigrant community. She has extensive experience working with the immigrant community, and leading nonprofit organizations. She served as the Executive Director of the Border Rights Coalition (BRC), a nonprofit organization documenting and monitoring immigration law enforcement abuses. At the BRC she disseminated updated immigrant issues information to coalition members, set funding priorities, conducted legislative advocacy, and implemented statewide and national campaign work. She worked with media at a bi-national level to promote the goals of the coalition.

Ms. Valdéz is a human rights activist who brings a broad range of skills with her passion for social change including significant volunteer and community involvement. Over the past eleven years she has served as a board member or active volunteer in over twenty organizations. Most recently, she was a board member at SFWAR (San Francisco Women Against Rape) where she highlighted the intersections between sexual assault and culture. She brought a unique perspective based on her work with a group of women responding to the assault and murder of hundreds of young women in Juarez, Mexico. In 2001, she had the special honor of being an official delegate to the World Conference against Racism, Homophobia and other Forms of Intolerance held in Durban, South Africa.

A graduate of Saint Edward’s University, Ms. Valdéz majored in Political Science and Sociology. She interned at the office of Governor Ann Richards, which was her introduction to public policy work. While at Saint Edward’s University she received the Capstone Award for her thesis titled AIDS in Border Communities. She was a dedicated CAMP (College Access Migrant Program) mentor for three years to incoming Latino migrant students.

Ms. Valdéz has joined Nuestra Casa to continue working in the struggle towards a just, equitable and sustainable community for people of color.