About Patricia

Patti Tototzintle is Chief Executive Officer of Casa de Esperanza, whose mission is to mobilize Latinas and Latino communities to end domestic violence. Patti oversees all organizational programming, internal operations, local collaborations and partnerships, and board and staff leadership development.  She has been in executive leadership at Casa de Esperanza since 2002 and was also a past executive director of the organization.

With more than 25 years of experience in community development and nonprofit management, Patti is highly regarded nationally as an organizational and leadership development trainer and consultant.  During the past 15 years Patti co-designed a number of community leadership programs and was instrumental in the development of two peer education leadership programs while at Casa de Esperanza.

Patti was also the Director of Community Services Group at the Amherst Wilder Foundation, 1995-2000, where her team implemented the Neighborhood Leadership Program—a comprehensive leadership program for neighborhood leaders—and the Southeast Asian Leadership Program.  This program provided yearly training and activities for 30 community leaders that covered issues related to advocacy and building bridges between mainstream and Southeast Asian institutions, systems, and cultures.

As a consultant with the Blandin Foundation in Minnesota, Patti co-developed and provided team leadership for the Partners-in-Leadership Program, a comprehensive leadership development opportunity in rural Minnesota for current and emerging leaders in communities of color and immigrant communities.

Patti has been a key contributor in the development of several of Casa de Esperanza’s products, including Latino Families and Domestic Violence:  A Guide for Systems and Organizations Committed to Serving Latino Communities; My Girlfriend Did It, a documentary film that explores IPV in lesbian relationships; Leadership Development for Líderes (Leaders); and the Organizational Assessment Tool, which is designed for organizations to assess their readiness and opportunities for working with Latina communities.