On September 25, Alexandra Piñeros Shields, PhD’07, associate professor and director of the Master of Public Policy program at Heller, was selected as one of the distinguished Latino leaders from across the Commonwealth to be honored at the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus’ premier cultural celebration, Latino Excellence on the Hill.
The special event, held at the Massachusetts State House, recognized the outstanding and transformational work of Latinos throughout Massachusetts, and featured remarks from Caucus and State House leadership, a keynote speech from Gladys Vega from La Colaborativa and a musical performance from Emmy-nominated composer Fabiola Méndez.
“I am honored to receive this recognition, and thrilled to stand with other immigrant leaders with whom I have worked for decades to advance social justice for our communities,” said Piñeros-Shields. “Throughout our nation, we are witnessing the logics of expulsion—the expulsion of federal workers, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and many others. Our response to the logics of expulsion should be the logics of belonging. This award is an acknowledgment of the importance and urgency of my work towards just immigration policies that create community and belonging.”
Piñeros Shields was nominated by State Representative Manny Cruz, who said, “It was a tremendous honor to recognize Dr. Alexandra Piñeros Shields as Salem’s honoree for the Latino Excellence on the Hill recognition ceremony. Alexandra has been an integral part of the fabric of Salem as a community leader, researcher, role model and an activist. From my time as a youth leader to now as a State representative, I have seen firsthand the ways in which Dr. Piñeros Shields has advocated for the needs of her fellow Latinos, her students and the most vulnerable among us in the city of Salem.”
Piñeros Shields has over 35 years of experience working to advance the human and civil rights of oppressed communities through innovative practices that create spaces and processes that enable institutions and community groups to collectively co-create and implement practices of shared power and decision-making with marginalized individuals. She served on Gov. Deval Patrick’s Research Design Team for the New Americans Agenda, an executive order that produced an immigrant integration policy agenda for Massachusetts. Currently, Piñeros Shields serves as Chair of the Board of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center and on the boards of the ACLU and Philanthropy Massachusetts. Previously, she directed the Essex County Community Organization establishing immigrant sanctuary policies in four cities, the institutionalization of implicit bias training for an entire police department and the development of an unarmed crisis response team to respond to mental health emergencies instead of police.