When Marta Rosa was hired as Executive Director of Child Care Resource Center, Inc. (CCRC) in Cambridge, Mass. in 1990, the agency was failing. CCRC promotes "the care, development and learning of children," says Marta, by offering programs for children and those who care for them, and by working at all legislative levels. Founded in the early 1970s, it was one of the first resource and referral agencies, and still has a cutting-edge, experimental reputation.
CCRC's
directors needed someone to restructure the non-profit agency, which had
massive debt, and lead an eight-person management group of strategists
and experts to restructure the organization and its finances. But it couldn't
just be a hatchet job. If the organization had any chance of surviving,
it needed to remain true to its external focus -- the people it serves
-- while internally building new, long-term leadership and roles. That
required an even-handed assessment of the problem and long-term strategies
for its solution.
The first thing Marta did was to assemble a strategy team consisting of corporate management and organizational experts to help transition the agency from 55 people, to 15. "I used a lot of the management skills I learned at Cambridge College," says Marta. The downsizing was painful, but crucial for keeping the agency's doors open. "It took a lot of skill, working with the internal, and external community, to make it work," she says.
Marta received her Masters in Education, with an emphasis on management, at the age of 26 from Cambridge College. She came to the program after taking a variety of courses and seminars at such places as Leslie College and Wheelock College. "I'm a lifelong learner," she says.
Looking back, the most important thing she learned at Cambridge College was "feeling more empowered to sit at tables I hadn't sat at before -- decision-making tables, policy-making tables," she says. "As a young Latina woman, you have to figure out how to make your voice heard," she says.
Her education also came in handy when, at the age of 29, she became the first Latina official elected in her hometown of Chelsea, Mass., one of the first three elected Latino officials in the state. "I'm telling you, it's all that Cambridge college background," she says.
And her responsibilities have continued to grow. "Now I'm sitting at national tables, where I'm pushing for children's policy, and advocating for the needs of diverse families," she says. Marta is currently president of the board of directors of the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), a coalition of 800 agencies similar to her own. She is the first Latina to hold the position.
Next: Susan M. Ifill