Welcome to the home of the National Hispanic Institute (NHI) East Coast Alliance! We are a committed group of NHI alumni and parents actively working alongside our fellow students and alumni along the East Coast and Puerto Rico, with the intent of engaging high ability youth in leadership development and preparing students to serve in future community leadership roles. 

History of NHI in the East Coast
NHI's roots in the East Coast go back to the early 1990s. Michelle Laredo, one of NHI's earliest New York participants and current Trustee, came back from the National LDZ energized and started to encourage fellow New York Catholic high school students to join up. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, an annual contingency of New York metro area students participated in NHI programs. Around the same, pockets of students from Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Massachusetts started attending programs through NHI's efforts to start expanded its reach.  Current NHI Senior Vice President and first Pennsylvania participant, Julio Cotto, joined the home office after graduation from college with a special project of helping NHI grow into the East Coast. Through a unique partnership with Villanova University, NHI opened the Northeast Great Debate for 9th grade students and established the Villanova-NHI Leadership Service Center (LSC) in 2003. In 2006, NHI opened the New York LDZ at the University of Rochester. The previous year, NHI piloted the LDZ outside the U.S. mainland in Puerto Rico giving rise to the institute's work in Puerto Rico. Years later, the Northeast Collegiate World Series came to be held at New York University, the Wheelock College of Education at Boston University, Cabrini University, and Elizabethtown College just prior to the pandemic pause.

Despite the pandemic, NHI activity in the East Coast has continued and the regional Alliance has started taking shape, engaging members from New England to the Southeast US and Puerto Rico.  Led by Steven Hernandez, a former NHI Undergraduate of the Year and longtime volunteer, NHI East Coast continues NHI's work through a team of undergraduates, young professionals, and parents that provide direction in the Eastern states and communities. In 2023, NHI East Coast is excited to continue in person programming opportunities at our 2022-2023 partner institutions St. Francis University and St. Mary's College of Maryland.

Notable NHI East Coast Alumni:

• Omar Cabrera, Reporter, Telemundo "El reporte de los Red Sox"; Public Relations, Cabrera Legal
  Boston, MA; alumnus of Boston Latin School, Boston University
  
  
• Marc Colon, MBA Leadership Development Program Manager, Vanguard
  Philadelphia, PA native; alumnus of Benjamin Rush High School, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
  
  
• Julio Cotto, Senior Vice President, NHI
  Lancaster, PA native; alumnus of McCaskey High School, Boston University
  
  
• Michelle Laredo, NHI Trustee; Assistant Director, Event Management, Hofstra University
  Bayside, NY native; alumna of Cathedral High School, Vassar College
  
  
• Carlos Menchaca, former New York City Councilman
  Brooklyn, NY resident; alumnus of Socorro High School, 
  
  
• Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, United States Congresswoman
  The Bronx, NY, Washington, DC; alumna of Yorktown Heights High School, Boston University
  
  
• Carlos Velasquez, Executive Director, Police Athletic League 
  New York, NY native; alumnus of LaSalle Academy, Cornell University
  
  
• Mandy Velez Tatti, Managing Editor, The Daily Beast
  Philadelphia, PA native; alumna of Central High School, University of Pittsburgh