Nelson Merced
Director of the National Initiatives and Applied Research
Nelson Merced is director of national initiatives and applied research for NeighborWorks® America. Previously, Merced served for five years as the director of NeighborWorks America’s New England district.
Merced is the former executive director of Alianza Hispana of Boston, MA, which provides social and educational services to the city’s Latino population. He played a leadership role in creating Nuestra Comunidad (one of the strongest NeighborWorks America affiliates in Boston) and was a founding member and the first president of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, a unique and nationally recognized community development organization.
Merced also served as deputy director for policy and planning for Boston; as a commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform (appointed by the U.S. Senate); and as the first Hispanic to hold a statewide office in Massachusetts when he was elected state representative in 1987. While in public office, he served the most racially and ethnically diverse district in the state, wrote legislation creating an Urban Initiative Fund, and was a key legislative leader for the first bill that sought to establish community reinvestment mandates for the insurance industry. During the past 15 years, Merced has lectured at the University of Massachusetts Boston in community planning, personnel management, funding strategies and the legislative process.
Merced received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and completed coursework toward a master’s degree in city planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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