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.
Avant McKnight, Paula a travaillé au Cowles Center en tant que coordinatrice de l'éducation et de l'engagement communautaire et chez Northrop en tant que stagiaire en développement (les deux organisations sont bénéficiaires de McKnight). Elle soutient la compagnie de danse Black Label Movement en tant que membre du conseil d'administration et est une ancienne déménageuse de compagnie.
Elle est titulaire d'un baccalauréat en beaux-arts en danse de l'Université du Minnesota et poursuit actuellement un MBA à la Carlson School of Management. Paula est née et a grandi en Colombie et a déménagé aux États-Unis en 2014. Elle a vécu à New York et à Miami et réside actuellement à Minneapolis.