Haverhill, MA (September 30, 2024) – Congratulations to the Northern Essex Community College alumni and staff named to Amplify LatinX‘s list of top 100 Latino leaders in Massachusetts. Amplify LatinX is a “non-partisan, collaborative non-profit with the mission of advancing Latine prosperity and leadership representation in Massachusetts.” Their ALX100 list celebrates the contributions of these leaders across various industries throughout the Commonwealth. The 2024 class of ALX100 will be honored at a ceremony on October 10 at the Museum of Science in Boston.

Alumni Honorees

Delia Durán-Clark, ’91
Principal, Esperanza Academy

Durán-Clark graduated from Northern Essex in 1991 with an associate degree in early childhood education. She also worked as a program coordinator at the college starting in 2017, when she piloted a program for accounting and bookkeeping specifically for English Language Learners (ELL). Durán-Clark is now the school principal for Esperanza Academy in Lawrence, an all-girls, tuition-free middle school.

Wendy Estrella, ’94
Principal, Estrella Law Offices 

Estrella has remained a fixture at NECC since graduating with her Business Transfer degree in 1994. She was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2016 and later that year served as the featured commencement speaker and was honored with the Outstanding Alumni Award. Estrella attended Merrimack College, graduating in 1997 with a dual concentration in accounting and business management. She continued her education, earning a juris doctorate degree from the Massachusetts School of Law in 2004. She opened Estrella Law Offices in Lawrence in 2005.

Zoila Gomez, ’97
Founder and Managing Partner, Gomez & Martinez, LLC

Gomez graduated from Northern Essex in 1997 with a degree in paralegal studies. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in political science from UMass Lowell and her Juris Doctor degree from Massachusetts School of Law. She founded her law office in 2006, and in the fall of 2011, she returned to NECC as a professor of Immigration Law and Policy. This past spring, she received the Outstanding Alumni Award at the annual NECC Impact Awards for her ongoing work in the community and dedication to supporting the college’s mission.

Luisa Peña Lyons, ’03
Founder and CEO, Bridge Forward

After studying international relations at NECC, Peña Lyons’ interest in global politics took her to Egypt to study at The American University of Cairo. She would later return to Massachusetts, earning degrees from Northeastern University and Havard University. She founded Bridge Forward in 2021. The organization “is an economic mobility organization founded and led by people of color. It is designed to help individuals and families experiencing financial hardship and affected by the racial wealth gap, with multi-year financial and coaching support to propel their journey toward stability and wealth building.”

Staff Honoree

George Ramirez

George Ramirez
Executive Director, The Lawrence Partnership

NECC helped create the Lawrence Partnership in 2015, a private-public partnership of business and community leaders dedicated to economic development and improving the quality of life in the “Immigrant City.” Ramirez took the helm as Executive Director in 2021. Ramirez has continued the mission of the Lawrence Partnership to bring together local businesses, area banks, nonprofits, educational and healthcare institutions, and government, to build a resilient, inclusive, and equitable local economy.