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Perla Rodriguez 鈥�01, senior director of education programs for the , is on list for a second year as one of New York鈥檚 most influential college and university leaders. City & State is a media outlet that covers local and state politics and policy across New York state.  
  

Rodriguez oversees the Hispanic Federation鈥檚 advocacy work in advancing educational opportunities for Latino and other minority students. The nonprofit鈥檚 education programs support students from early childhood through college-entry level. Rodriguez also leads CREAR Futuros, the Federation鈥檚 mentorship program that connects college students to social services and internships. In addition to education, the Federation advocates for immigration, civic engagement, economic empowerment, and the environment.  
  
鈥淭he work we do at the Hispanic Federation is so important and impactful,鈥� Rodriguez says. 鈥淚 am proud to be part of a team that works so hard and accomplishes so much to uplift our Latino communities.鈥�  
  
Rodriguez, who grew up in a large Dominican family in the Bronx, double majored in English and Spanish at Skidmore. She taught English at a Bronx high school while pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in secondary English education through the New York City Teaching Fellows program. 
  
Rodriguez also earned an MFA degree in creative writing with a concentration in children鈥檚 writing at The New School. 鈥淚 was always passionate about reading and writing, but I never saw myself in the writers and literature I studied so extensively,鈥� she says.  
  
Her literary aspirations grew when she began looking for books for her children. 鈥淚 wanted to write for my kids, the kids I taught in the South Bronx, and the little kid in me who didn鈥檛 have main characters who looked like me,鈥� she says. 
  
鈥淕rowing up in the Bronx and then teaching high school, I saw so many students, friends, and family members defeated by our inequitable education system. I always knew it was my purpose to work to make things better,鈥� Rodriguez adds. 鈥淭here is still so much work to be done 鈥� in today鈥檚 political climate even more so 鈥� and I am proud to work for an organization that recognizes this and keeps pushing for change.鈥�