Talia Rivera's experience working with youth began in 1998. Over the years, Talia's work evolved and she is among the leading thinkers on youth violence, gang interventions and street work in the City of Boston. Talia was a key member in the planning and implementation of a strategy to broker truces between gangs in conflict. The initiative resembled the Boston Miracle, a tactic to reduce youth homicides in Boston. To understand the problem more deeply, Talia co-founded Villages Without Walls which specialized in research-driven violence prevention interventions designed to address the ecological factors associated with gang-related youth violence.
Prior to joining the Council on Foundations, Talia worked as a community organizer, mobilizing residents, community and faith-based organizations around issues effecting youth and urban neighborhoods. She coordinated a network of over 120 youth serving agencies to strengthen the system of services for youth at high-risk through capacity building and advocacy. Talia also served as Director of Connectivity and Learning at Boston Rising, where she co-founded the Grove Hall Trust, the first-of-its-kind resident-led neighborhood foundation. She was also a writer for the FamilyEducation, an online consumer network of the world's best learning and information resources, personalized to help parents, teachers, and students of all ages take control of their learning and make it part of their everyday lives.
Talia lives in Boston, Massachusetts with her husband and two children.