Amanda Rivera Flores, MPP

With over 20 years of experience in social impact, Rivera Flores has dedicated her career to addressing systemic inequities in education, child welfare, and economic mobility. As the Principal and Founder of Causa Strategies, she has collaborated with social entrepreneurs and thought leaders—in Puerto Rico and beyond—to design and implement systemic change through strategic planning, advocacy, policy and research agendas, and sustainable resource development.

Prior to Causa Strategies, Amanda was the Director of Philanthropic Advising at Child Focus Partners, where she worked with multiple projects impacting child welfare, including the development of Aviv Foundation’s Springboard Prize in 2022. Additionally, as the former Executive Director of the Youth Development Institute (Instituto del Desarrollo de la Juventud) of Puerto Rico—the island’s sole organization dedicated exclusively to research, policy, and advocacy for children’s issues—she oversaw a period of significant growth.

Prior to her tenure at the Youth Development Institute, Rivera Flores led federal policy efforts for Youth Villages.
She previously served as middle school teacher in Washington, DC through the Teach for America program and also served as the Director of Development and Community Relations at a Catholic school in Harlem, New York, and as Deputy Director of the Department of Education of Puerto Rico’s Technical Assistance Project at edCount.
Rivera Flores earned her bachelor’s degree in Government and Sociology from Harvard College, where she conducted her thesis on the implementation of the Special Communities Program in Puerto Rico. She further advanced her expertise with a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, specializing in Human Resources, Labor & Education.