After 6 years of running CIANA’s afterschool programs, traveling around Queens for outreach, and being a leader and role model for immigrant and first generation youth, CIANA’s Education Coordinator José Velasco will be moving on to a new role at a new organization.
José joined CIANA in the spring of 2018 as a volunteer tutor, then quickly became Group Leader at our SONYC Afterschool Program for middle schoolers. In his time at CIANA, Jose has seen his students grow up; one student who Jose first worked with as a third grader will be entering high school this coming September.
In March 2020, Jose was instrumental in moving CIANA’s afterschool programs, as well as our adult English and Civics classes, online due to COVID-19. Jose was of great help during that time to Sophie Riina, then only a month in as CIANA's Director of Education Programs.
Since then, he has assisted Sophie in innovating and enhancing CIANA’s Education department, including our summer programs, our pilot Digital Literacy class last August, and bringing back in-person tutoring last autumn.
In early COVID, José also became part of CIANA’s Outreach team. He traveled all over Queens, from Corona to Jamaica, to spread the word about COVID-19 recovery as part of the NYC Test and Trace Corps.
He has also been active in our Outreach efforts in partnership with NYC Care, Hurricane Ida relief, No Kid Hungry, and more resources for immigrants and asylum seekers, through street outreach, attending resource fairs, and leading workshops.
Although we will miss José greatly, we are grateful for his years of dedication to CIANA and our client families. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. Thank you José!
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