1951-
Maria Vizcarrondo-De Soto had many important executive roles in the community. She served as director of ASPIRA for many years, was the first Hispanic elected Essex county official and then was the first woman and Latina President of United Way of Essex and Hudson, for 10 years. She also was the first director of Newark’s department of Child and Family Well-Being.
Maria moved to Newark in highschool and attended Arts High for the last year of highschool and Newark State Teachers College, now Kean. She then received her Masters in Public Policy from Columbia, and briefly worked for ASPIRA as well as in the Mayor’s Office of Policy and Development. She married Judge Hector DeSoto in 1981, while working for the New York YMCA and co-owning a Newark shop.
Maria became Executive Director of ASPIRA in 1982. By 1990, she was listed as Director of the NJ State Office of Hispanic Affairs and became the founding director of the Center for Hispanic Policy. In 1994, she was elected Essex County Surrogate, the first Latina to be elected to a county post. She had her success was “not an individual achievement but a collective victory for my community.”
In 1996, Maria was appointed the first woman and Latina president of the United Way of Essex and Hudson. She said, “The real challenge is pull all the people of the community together by galvanizing the leadership…and get them to rally behind a central agenda.”
In Sept 2006, Maria was appointed to head Newark’s new Department of Child and Family Well-Being, serving until 2010. After that, Maria served as CEO of Health-E-Citi-NJ and Executive VP of Vazquez Health Advisors. She then served as Executive Director of the Nerney Leadership Institute from 2013 to 2018, and an Associate Professor at Cabrini University from 2012 to 2019. From 2019 to 2022 she served as President and CEO of NJ Grantmakers. Now retired, Maria does occasional consulting as Maria Vizcarrondo and Associates.
Among many awards and honors, Maria won the Women of Achievement Award from the NJ State Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1995 and the Humanitarian Award from the Essex County Chapter of the American Conference on Diversity in 2007. She has also served on various boards in the community.
Bibliography
Archival collection from Newark Library (ArchivesSpace)
Forgotten Puerto Rican heroines are remembered
“1993 Year In Review” Star Ledger
Maria Vizcarrondo Chosen President of Council of New Jersey Grantmakers – Insider NJ
Extensive Star Ledger coveragehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-vizcarrondo-ms-9218934
“Looking Ahead” Jersey Journal Dec 27, 1982
Byrd, Frederick “Advocate…” Star Ledger Mar 10, 1983
“Newlywed” Star Ledger July 12, 1981
“Florio…” The Times Nov 9, 1990
Kukla, Barbara “New United Way…” Star Ledger May 30, 1996
Walsh, Diane “First Latino…” Star Ledger Jan 3, 1994
“Service to Women…” Star Ledger July 19, 2007
Wang, Katie “Newark launches…” Star Ledger Sept 21, 2006