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Biography (En Español)
Melissa Mark-Viverito was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico and attended Columbia College at Columbia University in New York City where she earned her B.A. majoring in Political Science in 1991. Melissa was selected to attend the National Urban Fellows Program and earned her Master of Public Administration from Baruch College, City University of New York in 1995.
Melissa is the first Puerto Rican woman and Latina elected to serve as Council Member for the 8th Councilmanic District. Prior to her election, Melissa worked at 1199 SEIU New York's Health Care Union. In her capacity as Strategic Organizer, Melissa assisted in shaping the union's home care strategy. Melissa also served as Director of the Hispanic Education and Legal Fund (HELF), a citywide non-partisan voter registration program. In 2000 Melissa worked for the Census Bureau and was responsible for managing all local census operations for one of its five Manhattan offices. From 1996 to 1999 she served as Deputy Director of ASPIRA of New York, a youth leadership development organization, and was responsible for administering the agency’s day-to-day operations.
In January of 2004 Melissa volunteered in Iowa working on behalf of Howard Dean’s presidential campaign and directed Latino outreach in Davenport, Iowa. From September to November 2004 Melissa took a leave of absence from her job at 1199 SEIU and was hired by the Democratic National Committee to work on behalf of the Kerry/Edwards campaign in Florida to coordinate field operations for the St. Petersburg regional office.
Besides her professional life, Melissa has been very active in community affairs. She is a founding member of Women of El Barrio—an organization that promotes the development of women as leaders in the economic, political and social life of their community; served as Chair of the Violence Intervention Program—a community based domestic violence organization committed to ending violence in the lives of women and their children; and is a Board Member representing New York for the Boricua Initiative—a nationwide coalition of community activists committed to the political and economic empowerment of the Puerto Rican community.
Melissa is also a media activist having served as a producer and co-host for WBAI Pacifica Radio in New York for over ten years. More recently, Melissa was invited to serve on the Community Advisory Board of El Diario/La Prensa, New York City’s largest circulating Spanish language newspaper. In this capacity Melissa met with the editorial staff and the newspaper’s Publisher to advice on issues of concern to New York City’s Latino community.
Melissa has also served as a Board Member of Community Board 11 and Community Board 2 in Manhattan, and served as Treasurer of El Barrio Revolving Loan Fund. Melissa was a delegate to the World Conference Against Racism in South Africa in 2001, and the International Women’s Conference in China in 1995. As a community activist Melissa has been interviewed extensively on local and national issues.
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