Gladys Vega has dedicated more than three decades of service to the City of Chelsea and La Colaborativa, which she joined in 1990 – just two years after its founding. Gladys was born in Puerto Rico and came to Chelsea with her family at the age of nine. Since that time, she has made a lifelong commitment to the community in which she was raised. Being a mother of two has deepened her commitment to building a better future for families throughout the region.

During her tenure at La Colaborativa, Gladys has assumed increasing levels of responsibility with each passing year, as she moved from receptionist to community organizer to Assistant Executive Director and ultimately Executive Director. She has led La Colaborativa in the Executive Director role since 2006.

Gladys is a groundbreaking community organizer and advocate, working relentlessly and fearlessly to ensure the Latinx immigrant community has a voice in determining how its needs and concerns are addressed. She believes that empowerment of the individual leads to empowerment of the community and that social action is the vehicle an empowered community can use to achieve its goals.

Gladys is the architect of nearly all of La Colaborativa’s programs, initiatives, and community organizing campaigns. Her leadership has resulted in expanded rights for immigrants, low-income families, tenants, workers, youths, and people of color across Massachusetts.

Gladys is recognized as one of the region’s most prominent and important community leaders, receiving citywide, statewide, and national accolades for her leadership. When the COVID-19 pandemic created overlapping public health, unemployment, housing, and hunger crises in Chelsea and surrounding areas, Gladys’s leadership positioned La Colaborativa at the forefront of state and local efforts to meet the tremendous needs of Latinx residents across Massachusetts. Her advocacy earned national coverage from the Atlantic Monthly, as well as local coverage in The Boston Globe, CBSN Boston and others.