Personally and professionally, Perrone’s work for Worcester’s Latinx community is immeasurable.
Starting out in the city as a graduate student at Clark, she contributed to local research about youth violence, teen pregnancy, and community justice. She has worked as a project manager for the Worcester commissioner of health and human services and a program coordinator for the Latino Education Institute at Worcester State University. In these roles, she managed a wide variety of responsibilities, including grant writing, after-school and educational programs, and COVID-19 emergency shelter and vaccine efforts in the city.
Perrone is a board member for the Worcester Public Library Foundation, the League of Women Voters, Edward Street Child Service, the Main South Community Development Corp., United Way Women’s Initiative Leadership Committee, and El Salón. She will happily facilitate youth programming at any time and offers college-readiness sessions at the Latino Education Institute. She participates in fundraisers, phone banking, and door knocking for political candidates she believes in.
What is the best location in Central Mass.? Cafe Reyes, delicious food and incredible story founded in workforce development for Latino men in recovery.
If you gave a keynote at a college graduation, what advice would you give? Wherever you may end up, take the time to build community around you. Show up, listen, and learn. Community is medicine, and we need one another to uplift voices and visions to create a better equitable society for everyone. Look around to see who is missing from the table, and when the time is right, break that table so those who’ve been missing from our decision-making processes can create their own.
Who would you like to meet in the next 15 years? The first Latina president of the United States!
