Caroleena Vargas, M.A.

Caroleena Quintero Vargas, M.A. is a native Rhode Islander from the Woodlawn, Pawtucket neighborhood. She is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island for her BA and MA degrees. She has worked in the international nonprofit and nonprofit space for over 10 years. Caroleena – who goes by Caro - started her nonprofit career interning at Year Up Providence, in the career services department. Caro saw how important it was to see her peers, family and community members occupy voice and space across many sectors. She made her transition to work on grants management and development for the international nonprofit – Oxfam America. Caro worked with the Food Systems and Climate Change teams visiting grantees and their projects around the globe, building strategy, supporting learning and evaluation and gender justice and resilience initiatives. Caro was inspired by all the spectrum of voices making an impact around the world on climate change, food justice and gender justice. Caro knowledge around food systems and their intersection with climate and economic justice transcends beyond Oxfam and crosses into the policy and programming space. Her knowledge in inclusive and resilient food systems provide a full circle view from the consumer, food producer, private sector, government and other stakeholders. Recently, she has transitioned her work over to The Solutions Projects, where she serves as a Grantmaking Manager and ensures BIPOC communities are receiving liberated capital for their frontline climate solutions work. From her vast experience in nonprofit, Caro is familiar with grant writing, funder pipeline, reporting and other nonprofit management. With this broad experience, Caro brings an intersectional mindset and practice to strategy and development. It is important for her to live and recognize the discomfort in resilience work.