Margarita Rosa
Executive Director, Grand Street Settlement
On May 15, 1995, Margarita Rosa was appointed Executive Director of the Grand Street Settlement. Grand Street Settlement operates programs for over 10,000 people annually. Its mission is to encourage and nurture self-determination among families and individuals through learning, advocacy, support, and community building. Grand Street's programs include early childhood education, after-school education, youth development and leadership, adult education, and a senior citizens' center. Ms. Rosa is responsible for the overall management and direction of the agency.
Margarita Rosa was the New York State Commissioner of Human Rights from 1990 through 1994. She was appointed to the position by Governor Mario M. Cuomo. She was the first woman, the first Hispanic and the youngest person to serve in this position.
In her capacity as Commissioner of Human Rights, Ms. Rosa served as Vice-Chair of the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission and of the Governor's Task Force on Implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Women in Government, and was also the Chair of the Division of Human Rights' Advisory Panel on Inter-Group Relations, which was convened at the Governor's behest.
Ms. Rosa graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in history and received a Doctor of Law degree from Harvard Law School. In addition to her work as a litigation associate at two private law firms, one of which specialized in civil rights litigation, labor law and international law, Ms. Rosa served as a staff attorney at the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Ms. Rosa served as the Division of Human Rights' General Counsel and Executive Deputy Commissioner prior to being named Commissioner.
Ms. Rosa was awarded a Revson fellowship to teach in the Urban Legal Studies Program at the Center for Legal Education and Public Policy of City College, City University of New York. She has also taught at the Fordham University School of Law, the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, and the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College.
Ms. Rosa has been a member of the Boards of Directors of the Feminist Press of the City University of New York, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Public Interest Law Foundation of New York University Law School, the Lower East Side Family Union and United Neighborhood Houses. She has been on the faculties of several continuing legal education programs and has spoken extensively on a variety of topics including human rights and discrimination in employment, housing and mortgage lending. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Human Services Council, Legal Services for Children, and the Non-Profit Coordinating Committee. She is a member of the Mayor's Committee on the Judiciary. She served on the Advisory Committee of the Independent Budget Office of the City of New York and on the Association of the Bar's Committee on the Future of CUNY. Ms. Rosa is the mother of a teenage daughter, Marisol.
