Staff Directory

Shirronda Almeida

Director, Mel King Institute

Viana Nascimento

Leadership Development Program Manager

Viana Nascimento manages the Mel King Institute's Public Housing Training Program, a resource for Public Housing Resident Board Members and supports Leadership Development for CDC Board members in the Resident Leadership Academy. Additionally, she supports the advancement of the MACDC Racial Equity Pledge and contributes to the Association's overall mission.

Viana immigrated to Boston from Latin America in her teens and has been a racial justice and immigrant rights advocate since his early youth. She earned a master's in public policy from the Tufts School of Urban and Environmental Planning and a BA in sociology from Tufts University. Before joining MACDC, Viana worked as an urban planner specializing in neighborhood planning and community engagement for nearly a decade. She has previous experience facilitating workshops for a state department-sponsored local government exchange program and conducting political outreach work throughout Massachusetts. She also has a professional background in the visual arts. 

In her free time, Viana enjoys reading, playing video games, and gardening.

Kavi Neva

Program and Communications Coordinator

As a new Massachusetts resident with a passion for community building, Kavi sees his role at Mel King Institute as an opportunity to serve and familiarize himself with his new community, while also engaging with the professional side of the nonprofit field after several years of volunteer experience with organizations in New Hampshire, Quebec, and Massachusetts. Kavi began his career at Mel King Institute with a LISC Massachusetts AmeriCorps fellowship and eventually became their Program and Communications Coordinator after finishing his service term. 

Kavi is a recent graduate from Concordia University in Montreal, where he was a Sustainability Ambassador during his final year. He holds a bachelor's in English literature, minoring in human rights studies and also has experience working in healthcare and journalism.

Outside of work, he enjoys riding bikes, playing disc golf, and making clothes out of secondhand materials. 

Rodolfo Saldarriaga-Huallpa

Program Support Consultant

Rodolfo Saldarriaga finalized his studies in Community Psychology at the University of San Marcos, in Peru. After working for some years there in community outreach and youth-related work he immigrated to the USA, where he started working as a housing case manager and eventually went back to the scope of community-related work

Rodolfo performs different roles at different organizations concerning housing, leadership development, and community engagement. At the Mel King Institute, his primary focus of work is to support the management of the Resident Leadership Training for CDCs.