Alianza Staff

ADELITA MICHELLE MEDINA

Executive Director

Office # 505-753-3334
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Biography

Adelita Michelle Medina, returned to Alianza as Executive Director in April 2010. She had previously served as Executive Director of the organization from February 2000 to November 2008.

Ms. Medina has more than 30 years of experience working in a wide-range of fields in both the private and public sectors. She has worked as head administrator for numerous non-profit organizations at the local and national levels in New Mexico, New York City, and Washington, DC, as well as for the State of New Mexico and City of New York. Before her first stint at Alianza, Ms. Medina was a private consultant for several years, and in that capacity helped raise funds for various non-profit organizations serving women, children and families, including several that addressed domestic violence. She worked for the Sister Fund as editor of its newsletter and for the Ms. Foundation for Women, where she was a Program Officer in charge of the Women’s Safety and Girls Empowerment areas.

Throughout her career, Ms. Medina has been a keynote speaker at various local, state, and national forums and conducted various training workshops both within and outside the domestic violence field. She has also published numerous articles on a variety of topics ranging from worker, immigrant, veterans' and women's rights, to women's health & safety, business, and arts and culture.

She holds an M.S. degree in Journalism from Columbia University's School of Journalism and a B.A. in English and Art from New Mexico Highlands University. She lived and worked in New York City for 30 years and returned to her native New Mexico in December 2004. She has one son, one grandson, and one granddaughter.

IVONNE ORTIZ

Training and TA Project Coordinator

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Biography

Ivonne Ortiz has been providing grass roots leadership in the domestic violence movement for more than fifteen years. She has contributed to the anti-domestic violence movement at the local and national level in many ways. Ms. Ortiz has provided a wide range of technical assistance and training services to many domestic violence programs throughout the U.S. , Mexico and Puerto Rico. Her major areas of expertise are in the provision of crisis intervention and culturally and linguistically sensitive services, as well as community organizing and culturally appropriate support group sessions for women of color.

She was involved since the beginning with Project Esperanza, which was a grassroots training program for Latinas to address DV in their communities across North Carolina. Ms. Ortiz was the force behind the creation of the “Latinos in the Movement.” This group’s aim was promoting leadership opportunities and training for Latinos in the domestic violence movement. Ms. Ortiz also created an “Immigrant Outreach Toolbox” for The North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence in 2003.

In 2004 she was honored with the “Comadre en la Lucha” award by the national Latino organization Arte Sana. On April 2007, she was recognized by the North Carolina Division of Community Corrections for her efforts to improve service provision for immigrant victims of crime. She was instrumental in the 2007 “A Call to Action” by the WOCN in order to raise awareness regarding the workplace challenges that women of color advocates and activists face in their violence against women programs and the lack of women of color leadership within the anti-violence against women movement as a whole.

In 2009 Ms. Ortiz served as a consultant for the Domestic Violence Awareness: Action for Social Change Part II: Organizing and Communications Developed by the Domestic Violence Awareness Project.

Ms. Ortiz served as Alianza’s OVW Project Coordinator from Oct 2007 to April 2009. She returned to Alianza in May 2010 as our Bilingual Trainer.

She is the author of “MiPelo,” a collection of poems highlighting the intricate issues regarding Puerto Ricans and violence against women. She is a native of Puerto Rico where she attended the University of Puerto Rico majoring in Sociology. Ms. Ortiz currently resides in Florida with her husband and three children.

RITA SANCHEZ

Fiscal Officer

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Biography

Rita Sanchez started with Alianza as a contractor in July 2011 and was hired as the organization’s Fiscal Officer in November 2011. Rita sincerely appreciates the opportunity to contribute and be a part of Alianza in serving the Latino community in its work against domestic violence.

Rita brings extensive knowledge in the audit and accounting fields where she has worked during the past 25 years. Rita brings experience implementing and managing financial and accounting systems for small privately owned businesses. Rita has extensive experience tracking grant funding, inventory tracking and financial reporting. She started her career as a bank auditor and was eventually promoted to Vice President for a small bank in Espanola, New Mexico.

On her personal time, Rita is very involved with her children and volunteers in community activities such as her school’s PTA where she has served as the School PTA Treasurer for two consecutive years from 2008 to 2010. Rita has lived in the Middle East and enjoyed traveling and experiencing cultures from different parts of the world. Rita holds a BA degree with honors in Business Administration from New Mexico State University. She has lived in Corrales, New Mexico for the past 10 years with her husband and two children.

PAM ORTIZ

Administrative Assistant/Office Manager

Office # 505-753-3334
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Biography

Pam Ortiz joined Alianza in July 2012 as Administrative Assistant/Office Manager. Pam is proud to be a part of this national organization which works to end domestic violence. Pam has worked closely with the public and has great compassion for people in need.

For more than 25 years, Pam has been working in Northern New Mexico for Dental and Medical offices as Office Manager. Pam will use her experience to help keep Alianza organized and running smoothly.

Pam was born and raised in New Mexico; she grew up in Los Alamos, where she currently resides. Pam has one daughter, 16, and has been married for 20 years. Pam is very close to all her family and enjoys spending her free time cooking for family gatherings. Pam graduated form Los Alamos High School and attended New Mexico State University where she met many of close friends. Pam respects our Hispanic heritage and will continue to preserve our values.