Anita I. Martinez

Anita I. Martinez is the Executive Director of the Michigan Hispanic Collaborative (MiHC) and leads the organization’s strategic way forward. In this role, Anita focuses on economic equity to provide first-generation ambitious and underserved Hispanic students with support to and through college. Foundational to all strategies, Anita ensures programming implemented has a culturally relevant, 2-generation approach focused on simplifying information regarding the complex higher education system. MiHC strategies also provide students with important career exposure opportunities so that they see firsthand the potential career paths. “Exposure is half the battle. You can’t be what you can’t see.”

Anita served as a Community Impact Director of Financial Stability and Wealth- Building at United Way for Southeastern Michigan (UWSEM). In this role, she oversaw a portfolio of agencies in the Economic Prosperity focus area. Providing co-oversight to The Greater Detroit Centers for Working Families network of eight high-performing community-based nonprofit organizations at ten locations — a holistic workforce development business model designed to improve the financial stability and wealth-building opportunities for families. Anita successfully launched UWSEM’s Community Financial Centers network of six sites to integrate financial coaching expertise with the partner agencies’ other lines of services. Additionally, her portfolio of responsibilities included a $9.6M pool of basic needs partner-funded agencies impacting 135,000+ residents.

Anita is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Studies and an MBA from Central Michigan University. In 2016, Anita volunteered her time and helped launch the University of Michigan’s Latino/a Alumni Association and has served as its Chairperson since.

Born and raised in Detroit, Anita is honored and humbled to support the upward mobility and self-sufficiency in the community where she was raised. As a first-generation college student, her commitment to this work is personal and fueled by her personal and professional experiences. She has dedicated her career to applying her community development background to improve systems that assist constituents with growing their financial and workforce development skills. Expanding her system knowledge into education, Anita’s tool trunk of community development, financial and workforce development, and business skills uniquely position her to accelerate change. Her professional experiences have allowed Anita to pursue her passion, which is serving others and improving individual and family conditions in life.

Anita’s most significant contribution to life is her role as a wife and a mother of five beautiful children