A community activist and civic leader, Gladys Lebron-Martinez was elected to the Holyoke City Council in 2011 following her service and leadership on the Holyoke School Committee from 2003-2011. Selected as a Women’s Pipeline for Change Research Fellow at UMass Boston’s Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, Gladys developed a research project to better understand the support and resources available to women of color leaders running for office in Western Massachusetts. Through this project, Gladys was able to identify, connect, and collaborate with women of color leaders from Western Massachusetts. Drawing on her research findings, she is working to strengthen and build this community of leaders to ensure increased representation by women of color in this region of the Commonwealth.

To read more about Gladys and her research project, please go to: www.umb.edu/cwppp/pipeline/fellows/gladys_lebron_martinez