Vanessa Rangel is a senior program associate who supports New America Chicago’s predatory lending, tax credits, and community policy design projects.
Rangel has a strong project management background as well as public policy and program evaluation experience. After receiving her bachelor of science in marketing from DePaul University, she went on to work in market research for three years as a project manager.
Rangel had the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of research teams within the pharmaceutical and retail industries and managed the field operations for their qualitative studies. She later returned to school to pursue her master of arts in sociology at Loyola University Chicago.
During her years in graduate school, Rangel had multiple internships and fellowships. She was an intern with Heartland Alliance’s policy & advocacy team where she conducted research to inform policy proposals and drafted communications materials on financial justice topics, such as EITC eligibility expansion, capping title loan interest rates, and protecting safety net programs in Illinois. She credits her time at Heartland Alliance as what sparked her love for policy work today.
Rangel was also a graduate research fellow with Loyola University’s Center for Urban Research and Learning where she was able to utilize her expertise for local programs and nonprofit organizations to support their program evaluation and data management needs.
Rangel is excited to get her boots on the ground and support New America Chicago’s newest initiatives in collaboration with The Chicago Community Trust.