Our Dream Team

Our team is passionate, dedicated, and proud to be able to assist in developing the natural leaders in our neighborhoods.
Every great organization starts and sustains with a strong team!

STAFF

MARIA ANITA SALINAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Maria is born and raised in Southwest detroit and has dedicated her life to community. She is the founder and Executive Director of Congress of Communities since 2006. She has a bachelors degree and Masters degree in Community Leadership. She has many certifications mainly addressing Environmental Issues, Leadership Development and Social Justice. She also has many publications in partnership with School of Public Health, University Of Michigan were Maria worked for over 18yrs before joining CoC. Maria completed a 3 year Kellogg Foundation Fellowship addressing Racial Equity, Social Justice and Institutional Racism in 2018.

Lupita Avila, Administrative Assistant

Bio Coming Soon

Cristian Aranda, Community Organizer

Cristian is a dedicated community organizer and proud mother of 3. Bringing with her a degree in production processes she began assisting the TANN Action Team in 2017. She now manages our TANN Action Team program as well as coordinates for organization wide outreach efforts. Cristian takes pride in the fact that she is originally from Monterrey, Mexico and encourages others to thrive as an immigrant. Helping the community, building relationships with parent leaders and canvassing are among the many ways Cristian displays her commitment to her community and her work.

Amanda Holiday, LMSW, Director of Early Childhood Programming

Amanda has worked at Southwest Detroit non-profit organizations since 2009. She is fluent in Spanish and well known in the neighborhood. Her passion is seeing young children get the love, attention, and education they deserve and supporting their parents and caregivers to give them what they need. At CoC she manages all the projects under Early Childhood and Parent programs, and supports administrative work. Amanda also supervises Social Work interns from various universities in the Metro area.

Esther Guerrero, Youth and community Organizer

Esther Guerrero is a motivated, supportive, and passionate individual and is a Southwest Detroit Native; Esther has organized in her community since her time on the 2017/18 youth council at the Congress of Communities. Esther works on the youth team as a Youth and Community Organizer. In her position, she assists and supports youth in carrying out events, developing programs, and learning about community organizing and leadership development. As a native Spanish speaker, Esther offers direct translation to youth and residents wherever necessary. She is passionate about creating healthy environments where young people live, work, learn, and play and connecting folks to resources wherever possible. Esther works on our Latinx Youth Council, Nuestro Futuro, Youth Advisory Board, and Community Organizing Course programs. Also, she supports teaching a Community Development Course at Western International High School. Overall, Ms. Guerrero looks forward to creating equitable opportunities for folks in the Southwest community and Detroit as she wishes to see all her people win and excel.

LUCY RUIZ, administrative Assistant

Lucy consistently supports, informs, motivates and involves parents in various school activities and the educational progress of our children. She currently works at Congress of Communities on the TANN Project and encourages the participation of leaders and residents and connects them with other community organizations to bring resources and leadership workshops. Lucy’s second passion is in the administrative and accounting area. She is a certified CPA and graduated from the University of Guadalajara, with accounting experience in Mexico for 15 years.

Nora Rodriguez, Community Organizer

Bio Coming Soon

Elizabeth Gonzalez, Community Organizer

Elizabeth Gonzalez (Lisa) was born and raised in Southwest Detroit and went to Wayne State University on a softball scholarship. While at WSU, she studied Early Childhood to dive deeper into her passion that she worked in since age 15. Elizabeth became an assistant preschool teacher by age 17 and a full teacher at age 20. Prior to joining CoC, she worked at Patton Park for the City of Detroit. At Congress of Communities, Elizabeth is a community organizer that supports the Early Childhood programs, specializing in informal caregivers. Elizabeth is the chairperson of Miss Mexico for the Mexican Patriotic Committee, advocating for leadership development of young Hispanic women and matching them to scholarship opportunities.