As Program Director for the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network, Elena spends much of her time supporting a network of college students and campus professionals in building collaborative problem-solving skills. Elena also directs a portfolio of retreat-based, course-based, and extra-curricular Sustained Dialogue programs for workplaces, and communities around the world. Elena is a social-community psychologist, dialogue facilitator and social researcher. Over the last 9 years, Elena has dedicated her career to learning and applying participative methodologies to enable cross- sector collaborations, co-creating events and democratic strategies for citizen participation, co-designing capacity-building programs toward strengthening citizen competencies and contributing to participatory research studies. Before joining the SDI team, Elena worked as Program Coordinator at Agenda Ciudadana (Citizens’ Agenda), a non-for-profit organization focused on strengthening participatory democracy in Puerto Rico. While at Agenda Ciudadana, Elena facilitated many cross-sector dialogues about public issues such as education, sustainable development, early childhood ecosystem, public safety, and public health. She also co-created and coordinated a capacity building program about citizen competencies and co-founded the first Center for Sustained Dialogue in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. In her free time, she likes to practice yoga, play tennis, take photographs, and spend time with her cat, Fellini. Elena is based in Puerto Rico.
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