Joanna Fuentes

Joanna Fuentes is the President of Community Dialogue NYC, a non-for-profit entity that collaborates with local organizations such as Bushwick Ayuda Mutua, Hands of Hope Ministries, and God Squad, to enhance the living conditions of families in underserved communities.

Ms. Fuentes is a devoted community leader who has dedicated her life to serving families experiencing food and housing insecurity, inequities in education, and physical and mental health challenges in her home community and across the City of New York.

Along with a handful of volunteers, Ms. Fuentes possesses an unmatched commitment to public service, delivering tens of thousands of food boxes to families and providing opportunities for others to tap into their passion to do the same, regardless of any special conditions that would make it difficult for them to contribute to their communities otherwise.

Ms. Fuentes is a champion of education, serving on the Community Education Council for District 32, and representing families of students receiving special education in Bushwick. She works tirelessly to make sure that children grow in communities that nourish their abilities, and where they feel safe enough to pursue their dreams without limitation.

She is a member of the 67th Precinct Clergy Council and is actively involved with the 83rd and 67th precincts to uproot gun violence from neighborhoods. Ms. Fuentes works closely with the Office of Community Affairs and spends most of her time with the community when and where they need it most — in hospitals, in prayer, and as a helping hand in the most difficult of times.

Born in the North East Side in Manhattan and raised in Bushwick, Brooklyn by a single mother, Ms. Fuentes has seen firsthand the obstacles that underrepresented communities live with each day. Through her work, she is changing the paradigm of a society where the most vulnerable are the least privileged. By giving selflessly, she is helping to create a better world today and for generations to come.