About Elsa

Elsa Rios is the Founder and Principal of Strategies for Social Change and Co-Director of RoadMap, a national network of capacity building consultants. She has more than twenty-five years of nonprofit experience in the areas of community organizing, program development, nonprofit management, grant-writing and public policy analysis and writing. Her consulting firm, Strategies for Social Change, LLC, specializes in capacity building for communities of color and social justice groups. Her practice areas include strategic planning, executive coaching and leadership development, team building, executive transition planning, board governance and policy advocacy campaigns. She attended the New York University Coaching Training Program and is a certified coach.

During her public service career, Elsa held several executive level management positions. She served as the Founding Director of the Violence Intervention Program, the first bilingual/bicultural domestic violence program for Latinas in New York City.  She also served as Chief of Staff for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Senior Policy Analyst for the Mayor’s Office on Health Policy under Mayor David Dinkins.

Elsa is also an adjunct faculty member at Baruch College in the School of Public Affairs and a core consultant with the Building for Change program at Adelphi University. She has taught several subjects including fundraising, leadership and management, strategic planning and cultural competency. She is also the Executive Producer of the Reproductive Justice Toolkit Video Series commissioned by the Funder’s Network on Population, Reproductive Health and Rights. Elsa 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 public service achievements. She also holds a Masters of Science degree in Social Work from Columbia University.