Associate Director of Operations and Strategic PartnershipsCenter for Native American Youth
María Samaniego is the Associate Director of Operations and Strategic Partnerships at the Center for Native American Youth. Prior to CNAY, she served as the inaugural Deputy Director at the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative where she focused on building a strong foundation and scaling the organization. María has held several roles with Voto Latino and Occidental College’s Neighborhood Partnership Program where she led education, civic engagement and leadership development initiatives utilizing data driven best practices to improve access to opportunities in underserved communities. Maria currently serves on the Advisory Council for Support Latino Business Day, is an alumnus of the HOPE Leadership Institute, the Schusterman Foundation’s Reality Program and is a Hispanic’s in Philanthropy Líderes Fellow. In 2020 she was awarded with an Aspen Institute Staff Achievement Award and in 2019 was named 40 under 40 in Washington, DC by Prospanica DC.