Please join us as we welcome Soco Hernández-Serrano, Carla Villacis, and Debbie Panek for a conversation on how the resilience of some immigrant families using the Whole Family Approach helped them to not only get through the pandemic but to thrive during it.

Soco Hernández-Serrano is currently the Program Coordinator at Qualitas of Life Foundation. She is an alumnus of the Immigrant Civic Leadership Program of New York Coro Leadership Center. She holds a Data Analytics and Visualization Certificate from Columbia University; a Financial Counselor Training Certificate from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection; an advanced certificate in Migration and Governance from the Center for Research and Teachings in Economics (CIDE), and a bachelor's degree in International Relations from the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC).

Carla Villacis is a Research Project Coordinator at the Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers Camden. Ms. Villacis manages the program evaluation for the Pascale Sykes’ Strengthening Families Initiative. She was also the Principal Investigator for the Whole Family Culturally Responsive Approach, a study examining the barriers, challenges, supports, and needs of Hispanic, immigrant families. Carla received her BA in Romance Languages from Bowdoin College. She worked as an English instructor abroad before pursuing an MA in Psychology from Rutgers University-Camden.

Debbie Panek is the Director of Family and Youth Programs at Mercy Center, Bronx, NY. Ms. Panek oversees services that include the Familia Adelante/Family Forward collaborative project, which supports immigrant families pursuing short and long-term family goals. Debbie obtained her Master’s in Social Work and Master’s in Public Health from Columbia University, and her B.A. from Duke University.