Tickets
General Ticket: $10
Members: Free, RSVP Required
Let’s kick off the first weekend in December with a woman known for kicking it into high gear and making a substantial difference in her community: Minerva Perez. Join us as we learn Minerva’s story and gather insight from one of our community’s most dynamic leaders.
How does one go from a BFA in drama to running a 24/7 Crisis Shelter for women and children fleeing domestic abuse? How does one facilitate a respectful dialogue between Anglo and Latino communities creating a more inclusive community? Let’s ask Minerva!
The Executive Director of OLA (Organización Latino Americana), a nonprofit Latino-focused advocacy organization, is continually recognized by the community she serves as an “indefatigable force.” Named “Sag Harbor Person of the Year” in 2018, Minerva continues to bring people together, create spaces of protection, and celebrate unity in diversity. Join us for an inspiring presentation of a leading lady in life.
In her own words, “If you know you’re compelled and you know what you're doing, what your intentions are, do it and learn as you go…” We highly recommend aspiring advocates and those looking for ways to impact their community to come and learn from Minerva. There will be a Q&A with Minerva after her presentation. What will you ask?
Knowledge Fridays, held the first Friday of each month, highlight outstanding East End locals with various backgrounds and careers. The program allows the audience to meet and learn about dynamic, inspiring, and fascinating East Enders. It is a monthly program open to the public and free to our members.
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Minerva Perez, Executive Director, centers her work on the protection, empowerment, and celebration of our Latino community. Before joining OLA as Executive Director in 2016, she was the Director of Residential and Transitional Services for six years at The Retreat, where she ran a 24-hour crisis shelter for women and children fleeing domestic abuse. Minerva is a sought-after speaker, regularly participating in panels and public forums focused on immigrant rights and women's rights. Minerva was named “Sag Harbor Person of the Year” in 2018, and in 2019 she was nationally recognized as one of NBC’s “Latino 20” for her leadership of OLA and its impact in our region. In 2019 Minerva also appeared on Fox News Channel’s The Story with Martha MacCallum where she discussed the ICE raids our community was experiencing at that moment and the Latino vote.
Most recently, Minerva has led advocacy efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic such as working with Suffolk County officials to establish a coordinated response to meeting the needs of the homebound and hungry in Suffolk’s 10 towns; ensuring ongoing, regular access to food for East End families hardest hit by COVID; working with Suffolk County officials to provide free COVID-19 testing by bringing a mobile testing unit to a remote part of the East End; and launching Project Hope: Coping with COVID, a FEMA-funded New York State initiative that allows OLA to provide crisis counseling in English, Spanish, and Portuguese to the entire East End by hiring and training 20 new staff members. Minerva holds a BFA in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and lives in Sag Harbor, NY.