The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) has announced that Mildred Otero (CHCI 2003-2004 Public Policy Fellow) will receive the Medallion of Excellence for Distinguished Alumnus during this year’s CHCI Hispanic Heritage Month virtual event.
According to CHCI, the Medallion of Excellence for a Distinguished Alumnus recognizes a CHCI alumnus who has made an outstanding contribution to the Latino community. Past winners include Alejandra Castillo, CEO YWCA, and Juan Otero, vice president for diversity & inclusion, Comcast.
Currently, Mildred serves as senior vice president, National Impact at Leadership for Educational Equity, a development organization that works to support civic leaders to help end the injustice of educational inequity.
“I am deeply honored to be selected for the 2020 Medallion of Excellence for an Alumnus Award from CHCI,” Mildred said in a statement. It’s “a program that changed my professional trajectory in 2003,” she continued, adding that eighteen years later she still feels connected as the work to build a new generation of leaders goes on.
Mildred began her policy work in Washington, D.C. through the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Graduate Fellowship program. During her career, she has served as a legislative aide to the New York State Assembly Speaker in Albany, NY; policy officer with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and advisor at the U.S. Department of State/U.S. Agency for International Development.
Before joining Leadership for Educational Equity, Mildred was chief education counsel for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions, focused on legislation addressing early childhood education, elementary and secondary education, higher education, and adult education.
Mildred earned a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York- Albany and a master’s from New York University, Silver School of Social Work. She also serves as an advisory board member for Communities In Schools, and has served as board member for Complete College America.
She completed the seventeenth cohort of the Aspen-Pahara Education Fellowship, designed for education leaders in the public, nonprofit, and/or private sectors, who have achieved success in creating dynamic organizations aimed at improving public education for under-served communities.
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