Boston’s Latin Quarter
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TEAM

Hyde Square Task Force is powered by staff, board members, youth leaders, and community members who work together to support young people, Afro-Latin culture, and Boston’s Latin Quarter.

MEET THE TEAM

HSTF STAFF

Carlos Acevedo

Senior Education Success Coordinator

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Carlos@hydesquare.org

Edras Alvarez

Music Programs Associate

Edras@hydesquare.org

Jonathan Alvarez

Office Manager

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Johnathan@hydesquare.org

Enoes Andujar

Director of Finance and Administration

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Enoes@hydesquare.org

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Reynaldo Cabrerea

Music Teaching Artist

Barbara Civill Montoya

Director of Operations and Special Projects

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Barbara@hydesquare.org

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Priscilla Colon

Dance Teaching Artist

Priscilla@hydesquare.org

Juan de los Santos Melo

Music Programs Coordinator

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Juan@hydesquare.org

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Anais Disla Soto

Dance Associate

Anais@hydesquare.org

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Rachel Dolan

Education Success Coordinator

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Rachel@hydesquare.org

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Hector Falu Guzman

Music Teaching Artist

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Eva Farrell

Recruitment and Enrollment Manager

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Eva@hydesquare.org

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Jess Garcia

Communications and Special Projects Coordinator

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Jess@hydesquare.org

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David Grieff

Music Teaching Artist

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Sharon Jones

Grants Manager

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Sharon@hydesquare.org

Rebecca Kamins

Well-being Manager

Extension: 328
Rebecca@hydesquare.org

Brittney Lewer

Education Programs Manager

Extension: 343 Brittney@hydesquare.org

Glory Martinez

Program Associate

Glory@hydesquare.org

Jose Mcdermoth

Office Cleaner

Celina Miranda

Executive Director

Extension:318
Celina@hydesquare.org

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Ariana Monroig

Development Associate

Ariana@hydesquare.org

Madeline Morsch

Grant Writer

Extension:365
Madeline@hydesquare.org

Nicolas J. Perez

Arts Manager

Extension:341 Nicolas@hydesquare.org

Stefan Rijos de la Cruz

Program Associate

Extension:363
Stefan@hydesquare.org

Genesis Rodriguez

Senior Dance Programs Coordinator

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Genesis@hydesquare.org

Brenda Rodriguez-Andújar

Deputy Director

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Brenda@hydesquare.org

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David Rosado Ortiz

Music Teaching Artist

Josephine Ross

Theatre Programs Coordinator

Extension: 316
Josephine@hydesquare.org

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Selomith Sanchez

Music Teaching Artist

Ken Tangvik

Living Safely in Jackson Square (LSJS) Coordinator

Extension:363
Ken@hydesquare.org

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Jairee Torres

Education Success Associate

Danny Vargas

LSJS Youth Organizer Associate

Danny@hydesquare.org

Alyssa Vera Ramos

Theatre Teaching Artist

HSTF BOARD

Mark Saperstein

Board President

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Gloria Lopez

Vice President

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Jonathan Block

Treasurer

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John Riordan

Clerk

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Melissa Aybar

Board Member

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Galicia Escarfullery

Board Member

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Gordon Gottlieb

Board Member

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Judi Haber

Board Member

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Stephanie Lin

Board Member

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Jane R. Matlaw

Board Member

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Sam Montaño

Board Member

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Daniel Palazuelos

Board Member

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Jerry Rubin

Board Member

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Anny Sanchez

Board Member

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Franchesca Santiago

Board Member

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Natalia Urtubey

Board Member

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Eldin Villafañe

Board Member

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YOUTH LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

Carlos Acevedo

Senior Education Success Coordinator

Extension: 313
Carlos@hydesquare.org

JOIN OUR TEAM

Interested in working with HSTF?

Join a team committed to youth voice, Afro-Latin culture, community, justice, and belonging.

Join Our Team
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Mark Saperstein

Mark Saperstein is an attorney, educator, photographer, and volunteer. He is a graduate of Brown University and Boston University School of Law. In addition to his law career, Mark worked for Senator George J. Mitchell in Washington, D.C. He is a former board member of the SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston, where he served as Treasurer from 2006—2010. Mark began working with Hyde Square Task Force youth in 2000 and joined the Board of Directors in 2005. He has lived in Jamaica Plain since 1993.

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Gloria Lopez

Dr. Gloria Lopez (she, her) is an equity-minded executive leader with significant expertise in higher education, philanthropy, and nonprofit organizations. Most recently, she served as senior program officer in education, at Fidelity Foundation in Boston. Previously, she served in executive leadership roles in higher education and Massachusetts nonprofit organizations focused on student success, youth leadership and community development. Gloria obtained a BA in Psychology from Dartmouth College, a Master of Social Work from Boston University, and a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from University of Massachusetts Boston. Gloria grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts. She is the proud daughter of two former tobacco farm workers who migrated from Puerto Rico to Western Massachusetts in the 1960s. Her Puerto Rican culture and the arts have had a significant personal and professional influence on her journey. It’s these experiences that have also inspired her deep connection and commitment to HSTF. Gloria currently lives with her wife, Tammi, in Rhode Island.

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Jonathan Block

Jonathan Block is the founder and president of Block Properties LLC, a real estate investment, development, and management company located in Boston, Massachusetts with residential and retail properties located across greater Boston. He currently serves as a trustee of the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation. Jonathan holds an AB in computer science from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He currently lives in Boston with his wife, three boys, and a St. Bernard.

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John Riordan

John Riordan recently retired after a career that included serving as a community organizer for Boston’s race relations organization; working for local community development corporations, including Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, to develop affordable housing and community-owned businesses; serving as Director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services and Chief of Staff to Mayor Flynn; training and supervising museum educators as Vice President of Boston Children’s Museum; and most recently, working to establish Boston Children’s Hospital as an anchor institution that extends its children’s health mission to include the social and economic health of the greater Boston community through its hiring, contracting and investment practices. John is an active member of Jamaica Plain Progressives Steering Committee and serves as Co-Chair of the Ward 19 Democratic Committee. He and his wife have lived in Jamaica Plain for over 30 years and raised their children here, including a proud HSTF alum. John joined the HSTF Board of Directors in 2024.

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Melissa Aybar

Melissa Aybar serves on the Program Task Force and currently works as a School Leadership Fellow at Boston Collegiate Charter School. Formerly, she taught 8th Grade at the Epiphany School in Dorchester. Upon graduation from Amherst College in 2014, Ms. Aybar joined Epiphany as a Teaching Fellow. Two years later, she graduated from the Donovan Scholars Program with a degree in Secondary English at Boston College. From there, she taught 8th grade Reading and Writing before moving into instructional leadership. Melissa is joining the next cohort at Boston College’s Lynch Leadership Academy this year. She is a proud alumnus of Hyde Square Task Force, serving as a youth community organizer for four years and then a college mentor and volunteer. She joined Hyde Square’s board in 2021.

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Galicia Escarfullery

Galicia Escarfullery is the family advocate at ABCD Jamaica Plain Head Start. Galicia initially joined HSTF as a Youth Community Organizer in 2002. After graduating from Another Course to College, a BPS college-preparatory high school, she acted as the HSTF Office Manager until 2010. She was nominated by former Mayor Thomas M. Menino to represent HSTF on the Boston Climate Action Leadership Committee. She earned her associate degree in social science at Roxbury Community College and is pursuing a BA in human services at UMass Boston.

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Gordon Gottlieb

Gordon Gottlieb is formerly a human resources consultant at TDC, a nonprofit consulting and training firm in Boston that serves nonprofit clients throughout New England. He was with TDC since 1996 as a human resource/organizational development consultant and as program director of TDC Training, retiring in 2021. Previously, he was a member of the board of directors of the Women’s Lunch Place, as well as a guest lecturer at Northeastern University in their Nonprofit Management program. He holds a BA from Tufts University and an MA in management from Lesley University. He has lived in Jamaica Plain since 1987. Gordon joined Hyde Square Task Force’s Board of Directors in 2015.

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Judi Haber

Judi Haber is the Managing Partner and President of MORE Advertising where she manages all public sector and non-profit marketing and advertising as well as managing the operational side of the agency. Ms. Haber graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a B.S. Degree in Community Service. She sits on the steering committee of Women for UMass Amherst and has served on several nonprofit boards. Currently, Ms. Haber is an Advisory Board Member at the John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club of Newton where she held the position of President for two years. She is also the former treasurer of the MA Social Marketing Association. She joined Hyde Square Task Force’s Board of Directors in 2016 where she chairs the Resource & Development Committee.

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Stephanie Lin

Stephanie Lin is a senior associate in WilmerHale’s Boston office who focuses her practice on IP litigation matters. She has worked on patent, copyright and trade secrets litigation in federal court, inter partes review proceedings in front of the US Patent and Trademark Office Board and International Trade Commission proceedings. Ms. Lin’s experience also includes an international investigation for a high-profile banking client, contract disputes, arbitration and bankruptcy proceedings. She has been a member of the event committee for HSTF’s Annual Making Change Happen Breakfast since 2017 and joined the Board of Directors in 2019.

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Jane R. Matlaw

Jane Matlaw is the former Director of Community Relations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Jane is a long time board member of the Hyde Square Task Force. She is a former president of the JVS Board of Directors and the Vice President of Jewish Community Relations Council where she chaired the Public Policy and Haifa Social Justice and Civil Society Committees for several years. Jane is a graduate of Boston University and Boston University School of Social Work. She lives in Newtonville and is a proud mother, mother-in-law and grandmother.

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Sam Montaño

Sam Montaño (she/her/they/them) is a Massachusetts State Representative representing the 15th Suffolk District. Sam has a background as a queer latine housing and community development organizer based in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. Originally from Los Angeles, CA, Sam has been in Boston the last 8 years diving deep into city politics and community organizing. In addition, Sam has an elected seat on the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council, Co-Chairs the Mass NOW Political Action Committee, and participates on the Young Democrats of Massachusetts Latino Caucus. Sam first volunteered with HSTF as a youth mentor in 2015 and has worked with 2 youth who took various paths forward in their lives.

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Daniel Palazuelos

Daniel Palazuelos, MD, MPH is a community health implementer-educator who holds positions at Harvard Medical School (HMS), the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), and Partners In Health (PIH). He started his career in global health equity by living and working with community health workers (CHWs) in impoverished communities in Chiapas, Mexico, and these grassroots experiences have deeply influenced his approach to addressing the biggest challenges in global health. He worked over two decades to launch Compañeros En Salud – México (CES, PIH’s program in Mexico), the Financing Alliance for Health (FAH, which helps governments design and fund ambitious, affordable, and at-scale community health programs), and the Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC, an advocacy, research and organizing initiative led by many of the most innovative implementers in community health). During the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as the Technical Lead for the PIH-US Public Health Accompaniment Unit’s work supporting migrant workers in Immokalee, Florida. Building on this US-domestic focus, he is currently working with the Office for Community-Centered Medical Education (OCCME) at HMS to support Boston-based community organizations and the students looking to partner with those organizations. Now as a clinician-educator in the Hospital Medicine Unit at BWH in Boston, the Director of Community Health Systems at PIH, a strategist for the PIH project in Mexico, a mentor, course director, and OCCME director at HMS, a residency assistant program director at BWH, and board member for CHIC, FAH and CES, his unified goal is to assure that our finest clinicians are trained to understand the community perspective, and our health care system strengthening efforts are aligned to the real needs of people living in the poorest and most difficult circumstances.
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Jerry Rubin

Jerry is formerly the President and Chief Executive Officer of JVS, retiring in 2022. He was responsible for the overall direction and management of the organization, and led its Leadership Team. Prior to joining JVS, Jerry was Vice President of Building Economic Opportunities at Jobs For the Future, a national workforce development and education policy, research, and consulting organization. Jerry founded and was Executive Director of two non-profit organizations: the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership and the Coalition For a Better Acre. Jerry also spent ten years in the administration of Boston Mayor Raymond L. Flynn, leading several housing, economic development and workforce development initiatives. Jerry holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Government from Clark University and a Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of numerous book chapters, articles, and monographs on housing, economic development and workforce development issues. In addition to serving on the board of Hyde Square Task Force, Jerry is a member of the board of MIRA and is also a board member of the Economic Empowerment Trust Fund of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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Anny Sanchez

Anny Sanchez currently works as a Bank Examiner at the Massachusetts Division of Banks. She was a participant at Hyde Square Task Force, specifically as part of Ritmo en Acción and as a Youth Community Organizer. After graduating college, Anny returned to Hyde Square Task Force for four years as the bookkeeper and program administrative coordinator. Anny holds a B.A. in accounting from Stonehill College. Anny is a longtime public servant. She served for a number of years on the board of Hyde Jackson Square Main Streets and has volunteered for Hyde Square Task Force in various capacities over the years. Most recently, Anny was a Mortgage Underwriter at Silicon Valley Bank, working in the Residential Mortgage Department. Anny joined Hyde Square Task Force’s Board of Directors in 2017.

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Franchesca Santiago

Franchesca currently works at State Street as an Officer with the North American Asset Owners solution team, as a sales analyst. Franchesca has been with State Street since June 2020. Before that, she received a Bachelor of Science from Bentley University. She has a deep passion for giving back to the community. Franchesca is known for her strong interpersonal skills and her ability to foster positive working relationships. She is a team player who thrives in collaborative environments and is always willing to go the extra mile to ensure the success of her team. Her passion for giving back is heavily affected by her Dominican roots. Franchesca has served as a member of HSTF since 2012, taking part in various roles within the non-profit. Specifically joining the HSTF team at the mere age of 13 as a youth member. She attended Boston Public Schools and grew up in the Southend/Roxbury area. Most recently, Franchesca has been participating as a youth mentor to 12th-grade high school students, aiding in planning for the future. She is looking forward to this new opportunity and is delighted to be a part of the Hyde Square Task Force Board.

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Natalia Urtubey

Natalia is a community leader who joined the Eastern Bank Foundation in 2022 as a Foundation Fellow, focusing on advancing equity in the small business ecosystem, a strategic area in the Foundation’s work to support economic inclusion and mobility across the region. Prior to joining Eastern, she served as Director of Small Business in the Office of Economic Opportunity & Inclusion for the City of Boston. She led a team focused on researching small business development, coordinating with local residents and existing businesses on strategic policies to advance growth, and working with residents and other city officials to remove barriers to do business. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Natalia was instrumental in leading the city’s Small Business relief efforts, including the distribution of more than $28.6M in direct grants and the implementation of innovative programming to ensure the growth and survival of Boston’s small businesses. Natalia also previously served the Mayor’s Office as Executive Director of Imagine Boston 2030 where she led the implementation of the first citywide planning process since 1965. Natalia joined Hyde Square Task Force’s Board of Directors in 2018.
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Eldin Villafañe

Eldin is currently the co-founder and Managing Director of The Chavez Group, a Boston-based government relations and strategic communications consulting firm led and managed by leaders of color with expertise in national and local political organizing, strategic and crisis communications, and community engagement. Eldin grew up in Boston’s Villa Victoria neighborhood, in the South End, and is a graduate of the Boston public schools. Eldin was the strategist and communications director for the winning and historical Boston City Council At-Large campaign of Julia Mejia. He also was the lead consultant on outreach to Black and Latinx communities for Ed Markey’s successful 2020 U.S. Senate re- election campaign, as well as handled campaign’s media production and ad buys, including to local and statewide news publications, multi-lingual radio market, and all Spanish-language media outlets. Eldin’s work in the public and private sector for over twenty-five years in Massachusetts and New York includes serving as a Deputy Commissioner charged with handling 24/7 public affairs crisis for one of the nation’s largest prison systems, at the NYC Department of Corrections (Rikers Island). Prior to that, Eldin organized and established public outreach efforts as political director and communications strategist for SEIU locals in Massachusetts and New York. He was also a partner at a Manhattan public relations firm, coordinating strategic communications for such clients like New York City’s Uniformed Firefighters Association, the largest firefighter union in the country, on numerous 9/11 events. He also drew national media attention for major nonprofits and helped turn local start-up projects into star business ventures. Earlier in his career, Eldin served as a political aide to an NYC County leader and press secretary for NYC Council and City Hall officials. And while at New York City Hall, he helped manage media relations for council committees' hearings that drew major media attention on some of the city’s most heated issues, including the so-called Central Park Five incident. Eldin’s work in New York was noted by Crain’s New York Business. He cut his teeth in public service when he served as a legislative aide to a former ranking member of the Massachusetts State House leadership. Eldin holds a Juris Doctor degree from St. John’s University School of Law in New York. He has lectured and taught on public policy and communications at various public and private institutions and is a contributing writer to many major news publications.
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