Growing Access and Revenues
Age: 37
Senior Director of Strategy and Operations
Organization: Erie Neighborhood House
In her current role, Melissa Flores has consistently used her sphere of influence to improve outcomes for families while improving her agency’s revenue to ensure sustainability. Over the last three years, she has grown revenue about 25% and led her teams to consistently outperform peer organizations in quality of services.
Melissa has also led inclusively throughout Chicago to provide services to Latinx and immigrant families and considers her greatest success to be leading her team to build a new childcare center on the West Side of Chicago.
As a result of Melissa’s successes, she was recognized by Governor Pritzker for her leadership and expertise in youth services and appointed to a four-year term as a Commissioner to the Illinois Youth Budget Commission in 2020. In 2021 she was selected as a New Leaders Council Fellow in Chicago which recognizes progressive, millennial leadership that is poised to make a huge impact in their community. Additionally, Melissa was selected as 1 of 30 nonprofit and government leaders in Cook County that will form the 2021 Civic Leadership Academy cohort at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.
Melissa also serves as a mentor to aspiring college students of color at Chicago Scholars, Vice Chair of the Harvard Latino Alumni Alliance, member of the national Harvard Graduate School Alumni Council to increase diversity at Harvard, and as a sitting member of the A Better Chicago Impact Council to support education nonprofits in the city.
Words of wisdom: “Lo único imposible es aquello que no intentas.”
