Gregoria Feliciano, Board Member
Scholarship Committee
1199SEIU Employer, Child Care Fund Associate Director of Operations
Gregoria Feliciano relocated to New York City from the Dominican Republic in the mid 60’s. She endured the violently turbulent years of the 1970’s living in the South Bronx, remaining focused on her education and earned a full scholarship to attend SUNY Plattsburgh, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts.
Her 20 plus years of working with children initiated in Mott Haven, Head Start Center working with marginalized children and families. She proceeded to administer youth programs at the “I Have a Dream” Foundation; an early college awareness and preparatory program for several years. Due to job performance excellence, Gregoria received a full scholarship towards a Master’s Degree in Education from Bank Street College of Education as well as a Certificate in Management from Columbia Graduate School of Business.
With encouragement and support from friends and community leaders, Gregoria became the first Dominican woman to hold the position of District Manager for Community Board 12 in Washington Heights/Inwood during the Giuliani Administration. She received several New York City Council Citations for distinguished work in building community, working collaboratively and effectively in addressing the needs of the residents and institutions in the district.
However, after several years, Gregoria returned to focusing on the needs of young people and accepted a position at New Rochelle School District as director of federal and state funded youth programs, providing extraordinary learning opportunities for over ten thousand students in elementary, middle school and High school surpassing expectations and achieving annual funding renewals of over 10 million dollars.
Public service and volunteerism have always been very important to Gregoria. Her portfolio of community service work spans a wide spectrum of projects focused on the betterment of individuals and community. For example, she is a founding member and trustee of a charter school in the Bronx; member of the Borough Advisory Board of the VISIONS Organization, which provides free services to legally blind children and adults and Kingsbridge Armory Community Advisory Council member. In 1989, Gregoria was the Vice President of the Dominican Women’s Caucus of NYC, where she championed a mentoring and early college awareness program for high school students (mostly girls) in the Bronx and upper Manhattan.
Currently, Gregoria is employed at the Administration for Children Services.
Executive Officers
- Cristina Contreras, Chair, Board of Directors
- Wilton Cedeno, Immediate Past Chair & Special Advisor
- Maria M. Khury, Chair Emeritus & Education/Scholarship Committee Co-Chair
- Jose Ramon Martinez, 1st Vice-President & Education/Scholarship Committee Co-Chair
- Leonardo Ivan Dominguez, 2nd Vice President & Arts/Culture Committee Co-Chair
- Maria T. Osorio, Secretary
- Estela Vazquez, Audit Committee Chair & Arts/Culture Committee Co-Chair
- Bernardo “Bernie” Rodriguez, Volunteer Committee Chair
- Manny Saez, Treasurer
Board Members
- Maria Lizardo
- Annie Minguez
- Remysell Salas
- Gregoria Feliciano
- Dorian Rojas
- Ysmael De Castro
- Alexander Nunez-Torres
NatDDP’s Board regularly evaluates the board composition to ensure it includes the appropriate experience, perspective, and community relationships necessary to drive growth for our organization and its mission.
We would like to congratulate Cristina Contreras for being elected Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Dominican Day Parade. Cristina Contreras, (MPA, LMSW, FABC, Chief Executive Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals / Metropolitan) is an accomplished healthcare professional with a passion for our community.
Cristina is an outstanding leader and will be focused on moving NatDDP’s mission to new heights along with our outstanding board members, volunteers, community partners and Sponsors.
