Paula Vasquez Alzate joined McKnight in October 2020 and is currently the program and grants associate for Vibrant & Equitable Communities with the Grants & Program Operations department. In this role, Paula supports all aspects of the grantmaking process for Vibrant & Equitable Communities grantee partners. Paula is passionate about developing internal grantmaking tools and processes that foster ongoing learning, while keeping equity at the core of her and the Foundation’s work.
During her tenure, Paula has provided administrative and operations support to the Vibrant & Equitable Communities and Arts & Culture programs, and assisted with the Lake Street Alignment project, grantmaking redesign effort, and the Ford ACT initiative. She has dedicated her career to working with underrepresented communities. Equity is at the core of her work as she strives to support systems change.
Antes de McKnight, Paula trabajó en The Cowles Center como coordinadora de educación y participación comunitaria y en Northrop como pasante de desarrollo (ambas organizaciones son beneficiarias de McKnight). Ella apoya a la compañía de danza Black Label Movement como miembro de la junta y es una ex empresa de mudanzas.
Tiene una licenciatura en bellas artes en danza de la Universidad de Minnesota y actualmente está cursando un MBA en Carlson School of Management. Paula nació y creció en Colombia y se mudó a los Estados Unidos en 2014. Ha vivido en la ciudad de Nueva York y Miami y actualmente reside en Minneapolis.