Client's Perspective
“The National Women's Alliance would like to express our sincerest gratitude for your training at the Young Women of Color Executive Director Retreat, your workshop received rave reviews from participants. To be sure, your expertise and participation were an integral part of the success of the retreat. We appreciate all of the time and energy that you devoted to ensuring that participants had an excellent opportunity for learning. We look forward to working with you in the future!”
C. Nicole Mason
Executive Director
National Women's Alliance
Washington, DC
Our Team
CIC is a woman of color owned consulting firm and because we value diversity, clients are able to access a multicultural pool of consultants with extensive experience working in diverse sectors of the nonprofit community.
CIC has carefully screened and selected a highly skilled and experienced team of consultants to meet the diverse capacity building needs of nonprofit organizations. A brief profile of each of our consultants is provided below.
Elsa A. Ríos, CIC President
Executive Coaching, Fund Development, Board Development, Strategic Planning, Policy Advocacy Campaigns
Elsa A. Ríos has twenty-five years of nonprofit experience in the areas of management, grant writing, program design, community organizing and public policy analysis and writing. During her public service career she held several executive level management positions and engaged in extensive fundraising and program development.
Her accomplishments include having served as the Founding Director of the Violence Intervention Program, Chief of Staff for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and Executive Director of the HIV Law Project.
Ms. Ríos holds a Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law where she received the prestigious Root-Tilden-Snow Scholar Award in recognition of her outstanding public service achievements. She also holds a Master's of Science degree in Social Work from Columbia University and is a graduate of the Columbia University, Institute for Not-for-Profit Management sponsored by the Graduate School of Business.
Carmen Vivian Rivera, Senior Associate
Strategic Planning, Policy Advocacy, Program Design, Needs Assessments & Outcome Evaluation
Carmen Vivian Rivera has over twenty-five years experience in nonprofit management, community organizing and public policy advocacy. Her professional training and social activism has focused on women’s rights and social justice causes.
She has held top-ranking positions in New York City government; as Senior Health Policy Analyst for the Manhattan Borough President followed by an appointment as the Director of the Mayor’s Office on Health Policy. Subsequently, Ms. Rivera became Director of the Maternal Health Commission for the City of Boston.
Her areas of expertise include: assessment, strategic planning, board development and outcome evaluation. Ms. Rivera holds Master's degrees in Social Work and Public Health from Columbia University.
CIC Associates
Vivian Todini
Strategic Communications Associate
Vivian has extensive experience in creating integrated communications and advocacy strategies for social justice organizations. She has worked with a range of national civil rights, women’s rights and grassroots youth organizations. Her areas of expertise include strategic communications counseling, public affairs, speech and op-ed writing, message development, media training, and website development. She is the former Director of Communications for NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund (NOW LDEF). She is a former board member of YouthBASE, an HIV/AIDS education organization for at-risk youth and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. Vivian received her B.A. from William Paterson University and her M.A. from New York University.
Jane Arce-Bello
Grant Writing and Fund Development Associate
Jane brings over 20 years experience in not-for-profit management and development. She is the former executive director of the Association of Hispanic Arts, has served as a member of the New York State Legislative Task Force on School District Governance Reform, and is the Treasurer of the Board of Directors of Youth Ministries for Peace & Justice. Jane holds a M.S. in Human Services from Lincoln University, completed The Foundation Center’s Fundraising Consultants Training in 2002, and is trained in youth development practice.
Andrea Williams, JD
Leadership Development and Policy Advocacy
Andrea Williams has more than fifteen years of nonprofit experience; she is the former Policy Coordinator of the HIV Law Project and an expert in grassroots leadership development. She coordinated the Center for Women’s Organizing, a comprehensive leadership development program for HIV positive women of color and has worked on numerous legal and policy advocacy projects defending the civil and human rights of disenfranchised communities. Ms. Williams also served as staff attorney for the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund and Bergen County Legal Services in New Jersey. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers University.
Fernando Gomez, CPA
Financial Management Training and Consultation
Fernando Gomez has fifteen years of experience advising nonprofit and for profit clients in the areas of accounting, auditing, taxation and general business management. His clientele includes communications, publishing, health, and nonprofit organizations, as well as professional services clients. He provides individual financial management consultation, as well as, training to boards of directors and executive leadership staff.
Mr. Gomez is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Gomez holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and is a graduate of Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York.
Paul Morejon
Website Development
Paul Morejon has over ten years of experience developing website solutions for a variety of clients including Violence Intervention Program, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Random House, Columbia University and PFLAG. He leads a specialized consulting practice that focuses on helping nonprofits realize success in their online strategies from websites to opt-in newsletters.
Nell Haynes
Research Associate
Nell earned her B.S. in Anthropology at Northwestern University where she served as director of Women's Coalition, the campus organization dedicated to reproductive choice and gender equality and as the student government liaison to the city. She has conducted fieldwork with the Navajo of New Mexico, looking at barriers to diabetes care, and spent time volunteering and conducting research at the Maternal Health Clinic in Zapallal, Peru with the Universidad Peruano Cayetano Heredia.