Media Contact:

Emily Pickren
epickren@frac.org
202-640-1118

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2019 — The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) announced that Mayra E. Alvarez, president of The Children’s Partnership, a California child advocacy organization working to ensure all children have the resources and opportunities they need to grow up healthy and lead productive lives, has been elected to its Board of Directors.

“We are truly fortunate to have Mayra on our Board,” said Judy Whittlesey, Board Chair of FRAC. “Her commitment to ensuring all children have the resources and opportunities they need for a bright future, combined with her leadership and expertise, will strengthen FRAC’s efforts to end hunger in America.”

Under Alvarez’s leadership, The Children’s Partnership builds strong community partnerships, conducts forward-looking research, and advances policy that betters the health and well-being of underserved children in California and across the nation.

Prior to her role at The Children’s Partnership, Alvarez served in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including as Director of the State Exchange Group at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She also was the Associate Director at the HHS Office of Minority Health, and Director of Public Health Policy in the Office of Health Reform.

Alvarez also worked as Legislative Assistant for Senator Dick Durbin and then-Congresswoman Hilda Solis and as a Winston Health Policy Fellow for then-Senator Barack Obama.

In December 2017, she was nominated by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to serve on the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission.

Alvarez graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health with a Master’s in Healthcare Administration, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

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The Food Research & Action Center is the leading national nonprofit organization working to eradicate poverty-related hunger and undernutrition in the United States.