The Aspen Institute

Joel Miranda (Massachusetts) is the Senior Director of Leadership Development and Graduate Leadership at YouthBuild USA. As the first YouthBuild graduate to serve in a Director’s role at YouthBuild USA, Joel leads efforts to deepen the practice of Leadership Development at YouthBuild programs, oversees the development of YouthBuild’s graduate leadership work, and to move the impact of Youthbuild’s leadership work deeper into the wider world. Prior to joining YouthBuild USA, Joel worked at the grassroots level as a Mentor, Case Manager, and lastly Deputy Director at the YouthBuild Just A Start Chelsea/Cambridge program. Joel sits on the Board of Directors for Just A Start Corporation, a non-profit housing development, homelessness prevention, and education and training provider to adults and young people in ten Metro-North communities in Massachusetts. Joel was a 2012-2013 Community Fellow at Boston University School of Management’s Institute for Non-Profit Management and Leadership and a graduate of the 2014 American Express Leadership Academy for emerging non-profit leaders. In addition to his work and community roles, Joel served as a Steering Committee member on the My Brother’s Keeper Youth Table convened by the Movement Strategy Center, is a Steering Committee member on the National Youth Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, and serves as an advisor to the National Council of Young Leaders and the newly organized Opportunity Youth United (OYU) movement. His life story was highlighted in the Huffington Post, he’s been a featured speaker at the Tufts University John M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service Frontiers of Democracy gathering, and at various US Department of Labor convenings where he shares how youth leadership development, love, and opportunity can help young people transform their lives and their communities. Participated in Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program Unlocking Latino Millennial Civic Potential.