HOPE

Board of Directors

• Luis Aponte-Pares, Ph.D.

  Professor of Community Planning, University of Massachusetts, Boston

  Professor Aponte-Pares has his Ph.D. in Urban Planning, and is an Assciate Professor of community planning at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He has been teaching undergraduate courses in community planning and community service management at the UMASS Boston since 1994. His work includes the development of collaborative projects with neighborhood groups in the Boston Metropolitan area for the Center for Community Planning. Professor Aponte-Parés is also the Director of Latino Studies, a multi-disciplinary and inter-collegiate Program of Studies. His research agenda focuses on (a) documenting attempts made by Latino community development organizations in Boston and New York City in envisioning and/or imagining their community in space in the increasingly complex and discontinuous post-industrial urban environments, and (b) research on issues of identity of Latino gays. His recent publications include: “Outside/In. Transgressing Queer and Latino Boundaries” and “Appropriating Place in Puerto Rican Barrios. Preserving Contemporary Urban Landscapes.”

• Jose Duran, M.C.P.

  Executive Director / CEO, Hispanic Office of Planning and Evaluation, Inc. (HOPE)

  HOPE’s executive director, Jose Duran, has provided organizational, staff and program development leadership since 1989.  Following a one-year research fellowship in the 1982-83 MIT Community Fellows Program, Mr. Duran earned a Master in City Planning degree in 1985 from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 1972 from the California State University at Northridge.  Prior to coming to HOPE as executive director, Mr. Duran served as a consultant to HOPE in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the HOPE Hispanic Leadership Development Program and the HOPE Developing a Latino Voice Project in 1987 through 1988.  Mr. Duran has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the AIDS ACTION COMMITTEE of Massachusetts, Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD), Mass Human Services Coalition, and currently terms on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MBPC) and the Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at The University of Massachusetts (UMASS) Boston and the Executive Directors Steering Committee of the Latino After School Initiative (LASI).  Mr. Duran has taught community planning, social differences, race/ethnicity/class, and ethics courses for 15 years as an adjunct faculty in the graduate and undergraduate programs in the College of Public and Community Service of the UMASS Boston.

• James Jennings, Ph.D., Vice President

  Professor, Tufts University / Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning

• James Jennings, professor of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University.  He received both an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University in American Government. His research covers urban and neighborhood politics, social welfare, and community development. He is the author of many articles and books in this area.  His two recent books are, Race, Politics, and Community Development in U.S. Cities (2004), and Race, Neighborhoods, and the Misuse of Social Capital (2007). He has also provided technical assistance and conducted research evaluations for foundations and government bodies in the area of employment and training, housing and economic development, and urban education. He is a member of several editorial boards, including Sage Race Relations Abstracts, and Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society. He is also a board member of the Arlington Community Trabajando CDC in Lawrence, Massachusetts.  His website is: www.tufts.edu/~jjenni02.

• Russel Lopez, Ph.D., Clerk

  Adjust Assistant Professor, Boston University School of Public Health

• Russ Lopez, a native of California, received his Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Earth Sciences from Stanford University and his Master of City and Regional Planning degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  He has a doctorate in Environmental Health from the Boston University School of Public Health.  Past employment includes working on urban and environmental issues for then Lt. Governor John Kerry.  He also worked for ten years in various positions for the City of Boston on housing, community development and environmental concerns.  Dr. Lopez was the first Executive Director of the Environmental Diversity Forum, a coalition of environmentalists and community activists advocating for environmental justice issues throughout New England.  His interests include urban environmental health and the role of the cities, neighborhoods, and the structure of the built environment in public health outcomes.  Dr. Lopez has published articles on the health effects of racial segregation, income inequality and urban sprawl.  He is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Health at the Boston University School of Public Health.

• Oscar Malcolm, Treasurer

  Research Analyst, Fidelity Investments Management and Research

• Oscar F. Malcolm is a senior credit research analyst at Fidelity
  Management and Research Company where he is responsible for counterparty credit research on US broker dealers and Latin American banks. Oscar began his career at The Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A in New York, where he completed a credit training program and served several years as a lending officer in the bank's branches in Panama and the US Virgin Islands.   After completing his MBA in Finance at Columbia University, Mr. Malcolm joined Philip Morris International in Rye Brook, New York, as Manager of Latin America Treasury. In 1993 Mr. Malcolm joined Kidder Peabody and Co. as Vice President with responsibilities for setting up the firm's emerging markets credit department.  Prior to joining Fidelity, Mr. Malcolm was a First Vice President and Senior Credit Officer at Smith Barney, Inc. where he was responsible for emerging markets credit.   Mr. Malcolm received a B.A in Latin American Studies from Yale College.

• Mary Jo Marion, M.A., Board Chair/President

  Special Assistant to President / Policy Advisor, Mass Bay Community College

• Mary Jo Marion is the Special Assistant to the President and Chief Policy Advisor at MassBay Community College. She serves on the Cabinet at the college. Ms. Marion was Associate Director of the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The Gaston Institute is the region’s only think-tank devoted to the study of the Latino population. She was responsible for the institute’s programs, grants, and operations. Ms. Marión also served as a spokesperson for the institute on various issues and is frequently quoted in major media outlets. iPrior to this position, she was Program Director for the National Council of La Raza -- the nation’s premier Latino advocacy organization – where she directed research, advocacy, and legislative efforts. She also served as Director of U.S. Operations for the Mexican and American Solidarity Foundation and worked for the U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Ms. Marión earned her Bachelor's degree from Suffolk University and her Master's degree in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago.

• Alan Jay Rom, Esq.

  Litigation Director, Legal Assistance Corp. of Central Mass.
  J.D. Cleveland State University/Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (CSU/CM) (1972)
  B.A. Economics, Ohio University (1967)

  Alan Jay Rom joined LACCM in 2007, overseeing its litigation program, after a nearly 35 year career, most recently as Executive Director of Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, Inc. (2002-2006).  He worked for seven years in private practice concentrating on employment cases (1995-2002) and for nearly 18 years as staff counsel to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the Boston Bar Association, where he concentrated in education law, employment discrimination, voting rights and public accommodation law (1977-1995).  He returns to legal services where he started his career, first as a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow with both the Farm Worker Division of Camden Regional Legal Services in Southern New Jersey (1972-1973), concentrating on sanitary conditions of farm labor camps, and then as Director of the Farm Worker Division of Neighborhood Legal Services of Hartford, Connecticut (1973-1977), where he concentrated on support of union organizing efforts.

  Alan has served on numerous community boards and is currently a member of the board of the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project, Greater Boston Legal Services, the Hispanic Office of Planning and Evaluation, Inc. and Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty and is a member of the CSU/CM National Advisory Board.  He has taught a course, “The Legal System and the Hispanic/Latino Community” at Northeastern University School of Law and trial and appellate practice workshops at Harvard Law School and Boston University School of Law.  He has authored several articles on public school finance, voting rights, bilingual education and employment law.  He is admitted to the Bars of Ohio, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, the U.S. Supreme Court, the First and Second Courts of Appeal, and the Districts of New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.