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Dinanyili Del Carmen Paulino

Dinanyili Del Carmen Paulino

Executive Vice President

Dinanyili Paulino is the Executive Vice President at La Colaborativa. Dinanyili joined the La Colaborativa team in 2016. She oversees the development team, finance team, program directors, and is responsible for the organization’s day-to-day functions and evaluations.

Dinanyili is passionate about working for youth and families starting from an early age and has been involved in youth advocacy. After migrating to the United States from Dominican Republic at the age of 14, Dinanyili became homeless. She credits organizations similar to La Colaborativa for helping her and instilling a sense of advocacy for the Latinx community. Soon enough, she got involved as a youth leader which sparked her passion for youth workforce development. Dinanyili has been passionate about the empowerment of youth and Latinx communities and has been involved in social justice for over 26 years. It is because of her background that she is passionate about helping the immigrant Latinx community.

With Dinanyili joining La Colaborativa, her strategic planning has placed the organization further ahead. Dinanyili has taken the lead in successful financial planning that would bring in more revenue and donors into the organization. With the increase in revenue, Dinanyili has mobilized an addition of staff and programs into the organization. Dinanyili has promoted an intergenerational employment pipeline that is responsible for employing and training youth and adults. She is accredited with the expansion of La Colaborativa’s direct services that connects members toward leadership opportunities and toward systemic change. Her strategic planning resulted in La Colaborativa being one of the pioneers for the Good Jobs Coalition, which promotes city-wide action toward fair labor practices and workforce development opportunities. Throughout the pandemic, her work, alongside the leadership of Gladys Vega, has been instrumental in the survival of the Chelsea community.

Dinanyili sits on the advisory boards for Mass General Brigham, MassINC’s ESOL Study, and the Chelsea Virtual Learning Academy. She attended the University of Massachusetts School of Community Planning and Boston University for Nonprofit Management and Leadership. She currently lives with her two children in Hyde Park.

Land Acknowledgment

At La Colaborativa, we believe that building a more just, equitable, and healthy future begins with recognizing the histories of the land and the communities that came before us, while confronting the systemic inequities that continue to shape our society today.

We acknowledge that La Colaborativa is located in Winnisimmet, now known as Chelsea, Massachusetts, on the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Massachusett People, whose deep connections to this land, culture, and community endure today.

We honor the Indigenous peoples who have stewarded this land for generations and recognize the lasting consequences of colonization, forced displacement, dispossession, and systemic injustice. These histories are not simply part of the past. Their legacies continue to influence access to land, housing, healthcare, education, economic opportunity, and the resources that allow individuals, families, and communities to thrive.

At La Colaborativa, we understand that health equity cannot be achieved without addressing the social determinants of health, the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age.

Structural racism, poverty, housing instability, food insecurity, and barriers to education, employment, and healthcare disproportionately affect immigrant, Indigenous, and historically marginalized communities, perpetuating cycles of inequality across generations.

This understanding is at the heart of La Colaborativa's holistic, community-driven model. Our work recognizes that the challenges facing our communities are deeply interconnected and cannot be addressed in isolation. By integrating housing stability, food access, healthcare, workforce development, education, economic mobility, and community advocacy, we work to address the root causes of inequity, strengthen community resilience, and create pathways toward lasting social and economic opportunity.

Rooted in our mission of Levantando al Pueblo, we believe that meaningful change begins by centering the voices, experiences, cultural identities, and leadership of the communities most affected by systemic injustice. Just as we honor the resilience and enduring presence of Indigenous peoples, we recognize the strength of immigrant families and historically marginalized communities who continue to shape our collective future.

For us, a land acknowledgment is more than a statement of respect. It is a reminder of our responsibility to turn recognition into meaningful action, challenge the systems that perpetuate inequality, and advance a model of community well-being grounded in dignity, belonging, self-determination, and justice.

We offer this acknowledgment with respect and gratitude to the Massachusett People, their ancestors, elders, and present-day communities, and with a continued commitment to learning, solidarity, and building a future where every community has the resources, opportunities, and power to thrive.