Lisette Nieves


Lisette Nieves, is the founder of "Atrevete Latino Youth, Inc.", an organization which focused on the educational and leadership training of young Latinos.

Early years

Nieves' family moved to New York City from Puerto Rico and they settled down in Brooklyn, New York City. She and her four brothers were raised by her single mother, whom she considers the main inspiration in her life. She took a course in sociology after she graduated from high school and according to her own account, the course changed her perspective of the world.

"¡MUEVETE! (Move Yourself!) & ¡Atrevete!" (I Dare You!)

When Nieves returned to New York, she went to work for Puerto Rican Association of Community Affairs as coordinator of "¡MUEVETE!". On May 14, 2001, Nieves and several other coordinators decided to develop a new independent organization, "¡Atrevete!". The organization operated out of a main office located in the Bronx for several years. Under her leadership, the organization's main focus was to educate and to develop the leadership skills of the Latino youth, starting in New York and Boston. ATREVETE! stopped operating in 2010 and the group decided to refocus their energies on rebuilding ¡MUEVETE! as an independent organization. She is currently the Board Chair for ¡MUEVETE!
Nieves continued to further her education with the intention of developing her skills to assist in the transformation of Atrevete into an independent non-profit organization. She enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she studied the application of principles of community organizing and theories of social and political change to build a network of leadership within the Latino youth community. In April 2002, the first Annual Atrevete Latino Youth Conference was held in Boston, Mass. On June 6, 2002, Nieves graduated from Harvard and was elected Class Marshall by her peers and received an award for her work in the Latino student organization, Comunidad Latina.

Personal life

Lisette Nieves is currently the Director of the Betances Community Center for BronxWorks, funded by the Department of Youth and Community Development Cornerstone Initiative. Nieves enjoys spending her free time with her family and listening to the Bomba and Plena, typical music of Puerto Rico. In 2005 she was named one of the most distinguished Latinas by the New York Spanish language newspaper El Diario/La Prensa.