Karla Gonzales Rivera

I've been in my field for about 10 years now, and my journey has been quite unique. I originally studied arts with a specialization in film photography, but when I graduated college, I landed a job in education at a school district. That opportunity opened the door for me to work with various communities, and I felt very called to serve as a servant leader. I worked within the education setting for over 8 years, and that experience created a space for me to connect with people and their lived experiences, while utilizing my own lived experiences to help nurture and create rapport and trust with community members. For the last 3 years, I've been the Community Development Manager for Community Care Health Centers, a nonprofit health center. We're national health centers that provide medical services for individuals who are underserved - a lot of our patients fall below the federal poverty income line. My job is to meet the community where they're at. My team and I go to spaces and community events around the Austin area and the outskirts to connect community members with our services. We help walk them through how to get coverage through our MAP program, which covers their expenses like an insurance specific to our health centers. But my job goes beyond the medical side - if someone needs transportation or help with their electricity bill, I help connect them to resources. We're connectors. I've been able to become an expert in my field and learn a lot about the communities around the Austin area. I'm also part of a steering committee with Whole Communities, Whole Health, which is part of the University of Texas at Austin social work department. We provide feedback on data and surveys to help the city make impact and changes. I've been doing that for about a year now. I've been in a leadership role where I've had influence and been able to mentor people for about 5 to 6 years now.