Our team is made up of 5 Full Time Staff, 5 Part Time Staff, and a number of affiliated volunteer staff. Our leadership is comprised of individuals with varied backgrounds and experience, creating a team that is able to effectively impact our community with their unique gifts.
FULL TIME STAFF
Bethany Rivera Molinar
Bethany Rivera Molinar is the Executive Director of Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach. She was born and raised in El Paso and is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso where she received her bachelor of science degree. Bethany earned both Masters of Divinity & Masters of Social Work degrees at Truett Theological Seminary and the Diana Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University. She is a licensed and ordained minister through Church Under the Bridge in Waco, Texas.
Bethany’s community development experience includes: community organizing at local and state levels, parental engagement, and bridging the local church to their neighborhood. She has worked at Ciudad Nueva since 2013 and has served in multiple capacities including middle school program coordinator, youth programs director, grant writer and director of operations. Bethany is deeply passionate for Ciudad Nueva to be a place where community work unfolds and community members are actively engaged and accessing their gifts, skills, and resources to collectively lead towards a vibrant and thriving community. Along with her team and community, this passion has driven the work that she has done through Ciudad Nueva for the past ten years.
Bethany serves on the national board of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) as well as the boards of two local organizations. She has a history of leading with prophetic strength and innovative leadership within local, regional, and national women of color faith circles. When not doing all of the above, Bethany enjoys spending time with her husband Adrian and their children, running, urban gardening, and pursuing the crafty arts.
Alma Martinez
Alma serves as our Food Co-Op coordinator and as a Community Connector. Alma was born and raised in Juarez her first fourteen years, before moving to El Paso, where she graduated from El Paso High School, and has completed two years of Community College coursework. She was drawn to Ciudad Nueva because she liked the people and the programs, the love and caring she saw exhibited, as she and her family became involved. As Alma became more involved, her ability to organize has demonstrated itself. As our food co-op manager, she loves helping others. Alma loves spending her free time with her kids. Though she claims to be naturally shy, her infectious personality is winsome.
PART TIME STAFF
Claudia Chavez
Abby Carl Klassen
Abigail Carl Klassen works in Partnerships and Development at Ciudad Nueva and Abara Frontiers. She is a writer, poet, educator, translator and researcher who has worked in a variety of public, private, and community development settings in the United States and Latin America. She grew up in rural west Texas where oil meets agriculture. She moved to El Paso in 2003 and lived there until 2014 when she and her husband Jonathan moved to rural Appalachia to pursue regenerative agriculture. During her years in El Paso, Abigail earned a BA in Literature and an MFA in Bilingual Creative Writing, worked for InterVarsity, the El Paso Public Schools, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso Community College and Ciudad Nueva, facilitated community development immersions in Albuquerque and Mexico City and participated in borderland arts, peacemaking, and advocacy efforts.
From 2014 to 2019 Abigail and Jonathan worked seasonally in agriculture and traveled, trekked, volunteered, and did research across the U.S., Mexico, and Central America. They thru-hiked the Appalachian and Colorado trails, taught at a bilingual school in Honduras, volunteered at shelter for Central American migrants in Mexico, and collected interviews in the Mennonite colonies in northern Mexico for the Rebels, Exiles, and Bridge Builders Oral History Project.
In 2020 they were drawn back to El Paso-Juárez’s welcoming and dynamic community and are excited for opportunities to participate in local arts, justice, and advocacy initiatives and to enjoy the mountains of Texas and New Mexico.
Mary Chavez
Mary Chavez serves as Office Manager. She was born and raised in Canutillo, TX. She attended St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX and Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX. Her work experience includes: administrative, management and financial experience. She has over 10 years of experience working for non profit organizations in the community. She also has experience in grant writing and program reporting on private, state and federal funding grants. Even though always in the background, Mary has always been pleased to be able to use her working abilities and work for non profit agencies that help people in this community. She enjoys working for this agency not only as an employee but as a volunteer when needed. She enjoys meeting the families that are involved in the programs and how such services affect the lives of these families as a whole.
Daisy Guzman
Daisy Guzman is completing her Masters of Science in Social Work (MSSW) with The University of Texas at Austin. As her final field placement, she will be serving as an Case Management and Communications Coordinator with Ciudad Nueva and Abara Frontiers for the Spring of 2022. Daisy was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, and has lived here since. She completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology at The University of Texas at El Paso in December of 2019. During her undergraduate experience, she served as a volunteer with Annunciation House to help build relationships with families, prepare families for court dates regarding their immigration status, and communicate with individuals that spoke different languages to help meet their immediate needs.
During her graduate experience, she had the privilege to intern in a middle school to assist and lead social workers in supporting students in counseling and social-emotional learning initiatives and contribute to student and family engagement. Her desire to work with families, adolescents, and immigrants comes from her experience of living by the border and being the daughter of immigrant individuals; she is motivated by her privilege of being bilingual and having the opportunity to have an advanced education. She likes to spend time with friends and family during her free time, visit local coffee shops, go on hikes, and watch mystery shows.
Luis Mendoza
Luis serves as a Community Connector. Luis was born and raised in Juarez, where he graduated from high school and has done almost two years of nursing. His involvement with Ciudad Nueva started by helping out Alma in the food co-op. What drew Luis to Ciudad Nueva is that he likes to help people, which also serves as his motivation, because he doesn’t like seeing people in trouble. Community is what Luis loves about Ciudad Nueva. Luis and his family now live in El Paso, and it is family and a can-do attitude that keeps him going when things are hard. As a member of the Rio Grande neighborhood, Luis has uniquely invested through the ownership of a pet store, where he shares his love of animals with everyone; and, now, with Ciudad Nueva.
Malena Ipiotis
Lena was born in the great city of El Paso, but grew up in Moriarty, NM. It was there she served in her church as a lecturer, trained young adults to be altar servers, created curriculum for faith led classes, and organized camps and retreats for young children and adults. Lena is currently studying Psychology at the University of Texas at El Paso, with a concentration in Biology. She has volunteered and studied with the Chicano Studies department, researching education along the Southwest border, societal issues, and cultural diversity. Lena has also worked on projects with Teen Survivor, educating middle schoolers on life topics like sexual health, eating disorders, and teaching healthy coping mechanisms. Lena also serves as a judge for YISD middle school speech contests, offering feedback and mentorship. Lena is the oldest of six kids; and, through watching her younger siblings grow up, has found inspiration and motivation in aiding young adults. Lena loves children and animals; so, she spends her free time babysitting her godsons and nephews, or pet sitting for friends and family. Lena enjoys spending time with her loved ones, and creating memories together.
Nancy Lam
Nancy is the High School Program Coordinator at Ciudad Nueva. She recently earned her BA in Global Studies and minor in Political Science at Arizona State University. This background and her work in other community development nonprofits push her to examine root causes of under-resourcing and its consequences in a community. She is also the Training and Advocacy Specialist at Abara, a partner organization in El Paso.
Her personal experience as an immigrant, navigating a new country with her family, and her studies fuel her work in immigration justice. Though ethnically Chinese, she was born in Vietnam and raised in Taiwan before immigrating to Los Angeles with her family when she was five years old. She enjoys living and working in cross-cultural communities and spent the summer in the greater Mexico City metro area immersed in culture and language learning. She has worked with refugees and coworkers from around the world, and is grateful now to live and learn in the borderlands. She feels a sense of belonging in El Paso as she sees a lot of her own multicultural identity in the binational nature of this community.
She is passionate about working with her neighbors to meet the needs and foster the beauty of the Rio Grande neighborhood. She loves working with youth and is so excited to learn, spend time with, and work with our high school students!
Marlene Lopez
Marlene Lopez recently began her journey working with children here at Ciudad Nueva as an MSW Intern. She is proud to be a Hispanic woman born and raised here in El Paso, TX. Over the past 5 years, she served the community of El Paso working as an adult mental health caseworker. She received her bachelor’s degree in Counseling at Grand Canyon University in Arizona. She is currently working on obtaining her Master of Social Work from New Mexico State University. She is bilingual in English and Spanish. She enjoys working with others and lifting others up and loves her time working with children. During her free time, she loves being outdoors walking, running, hiking, camping, etc. Ciudad Nueva feels like a community filled with hope, love, and a lot of hard work and she is happy to be a part of it all.
Aranxa Valencia
Aranxa serves as the Youth Programs Assistant. Born and raised in El Paso, she has a deep-rooted love for her border town. Having spent most school breaks in Mexico with distant family and growing up a couple of streets away from Juarez, she has experienced the beauty of living in a twin city. Raised in a loving Christian home, she wants to share that same love with the kids of her community. Although she is currently pursuing a degree in Statistics from the University of Texas at El Paso through this position, she is learning invaluable lessons about being a humanitarian and loving your neighbors that she hopes to carry with her into whatever career path she winds up in.
Evelyn Loya
Evelyn serves as the Youth Programs Assistant. She was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. She graduated from El Paso High School in 2020 and is currently attending El Paso Community College studying to become a teacher. She started getting involved with Ciudad Nueva when she was in 5th grade and since then attended all after school programs. She wants to give back and help the community just how her mentors helped her. She believes that helping others is also a way to help yourself which is why she decided to get involved and help middle school students in this community. Evelyn is gaining experience that will later help her in her career.
Toni Kerr
Toni Kerr serves as an MSW Intern while achieving her Master’s in Social Work degree from the University of Texas at El Paso. Toni was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming, where she obtained her Associate of Arts in Human Communication at Casper Community College. While completing her associate’s degree, Toni served as a summer intern with A21, a global anti-human trafficking organization based out of Costa Mesa, California, and served as a communication intern with CASA of Natrona County. Upon finishing, she moved to Laramie, Wyoming, to complete a Bachelor of Social Work degree, where she served as a BSW Intern with the Comea House and Resource Shelter, a shelter designed to serve those experiencing homelessness.
Toni is highly motivated to work with our future generations and has eight years of experience working and volunteering with youth in various settings. Her experiences have included leading summer camp and afterschool programs, serving a childcare volunteer in a girls shelter in New Delhi, India, working as an assistant teacher in a Child Development Center, and as a substitute teacher. Toni is also passionate about nonprofit work and policy and advocacy. Toni hopes to continue using her skills, strengths, and passions to work with youth and vulnerable populations.
In her free time, Toni loves to try new things, work out, go on hikes, spend time with friends, and talk to her family back home!
Brenda Varela
Brenda Varela is completing her Master of Social Work at the University of Texas at El Paso! She was born and raised in El Paso, TX, and completed her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at El Paso. Brenda will complete her final internship with Ciudad Nueva, focusing on our after-school Launch Pad Program. Throughout the last couple of years, Brenda has gained experience working with non-profit organizations, health services, working with children ages five and older, and the medical side of social work. Brenda has always had a love and passion for helping others in any aspect that she can, whether with homework, psychosocial assessments, providing resources, or being someone others can speak to freely.
In her free time, she enjoys being with her family, going on road trips, and seeing new places. Brenda also enjoys journaling and taking her dog on walks!
Anabel Theriault
Anabel Theriault is a BSW intern working on her Bachelor’s in Social Work at The University of Texas at El Paso. Anabel was born in Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua, and immigrated with her parents to El Paso when she was one year old. She has been involved in social justice and advocacy issues and advocated for DREAMERS at the Texas State Capitol during Social Work Advocacy Day in March 2023. Anabel was a DREAMER, and her personal experience as an immigrant has shaped her desire to help one of the most vulnerable populations in our community. Currently, Anabel participates in the pilot program of The Loretto Justice Fellowship, is President of the Phi Alpha Honor Society UTEP chapter, is involved in a student organization at UTEP, and is always looking for opportunities to serve the El Paso community. Anabel was drawn to Ciudad Nueva for the diverse populations we serve and the programs offered. Anabel enjoys spending time with her husband, Michael, and their children in her free time. They enjoy the arts district in downtown El Paso, movie and game nights, and finding new dinner spots as a family.
Maria Gutierrez
Meet Maria Gutierrez. One of her most significant accomplishments was attending school and earning a higher education. During her education and internship placements, she had the opportunity to work and help people from different backgrounds and gain experience in her career in social work. She started at El Paso Community College studying English as a Second Language. Then, she earned her Associate of Arts at EPCC. After that, she transferred to UTEP to become a social worker and got her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. During her undergraduate years, she developed skills and the need to help others. In her practicum site, she became more aware of the population’s needs, such as housing, food, immigration status, etc. She learned how to connect people in need to services in the community through assessments and gain trust from the clients. She completed her graduate degree and joined us as a part-time community connector. Maria has a diverse background and brings much knowledge and expertise to our team. Her life and educational experiences have helped her become more confident, competent, ethical, and professional in her social work career.
AFFILIATED ROLES
Gary Enge
Gary does administrative work for Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach. Gary was born in Argentina to Southern Baptist missionaries, living in Argentina for nine years before moving to El Paso, where he graduated from high school. Gary has a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Biology from New Mexico State University, and Masters in Theology and in Education from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. Gary is fluent in Spanish. Gary was drawn to Christian community development work because he feels it bridges evangelism (which tends to emphasize the spiritual while neglecting the physical) and social work (which tends to emphasize the physical while neglecting the spiritual). Gary was drawn to Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach for its pursuit of Christian community development. Gary likes to help out in behind the scenes details and logistics. As Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach continues to grow, Gary wants to help navigate the administration that comes from growing a community center. Gary loves to Facebook his experiences at Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach and in the Rio Grande neighborhood and browse news websites during his introvert time. Gary is a member of the Christian Community Development Association family, the Border Southwest CCDA Regional family, the Texas Christian Community Development Network family, and the El Paso CCDA family. Gary loves being part of one-on-one question-filled conversations where a person has been involved in relief work, and is wondering what the next step is.