Elena Sauceda-Peeples is a nonprofit professional with experience in workforce development, community development, and education. She’s currently the Program Director for the East Trenton Collaborative (ETC), a community development and community organizing initiative in the East Trenton neighborhood of Trenton’s North Ward.
Before she became director of ETC, Elena served as a Community Organizer with collaborative partner UrbanPromise Trenton, where she worked with neighborhood residents to identify and take action on priority issues. Before moving with her family to Central Jersey in 2017, Elena managed Adult Education programs at Pathstone Corporation’s Training and Employment Division in Salem, Cumberland, and Atlantic counties. Her work there included the development of learning activities for migrant and seasonal farmworkers, displaced and long-term unemployed workers, immigrants and English Language Learners, and youth to support their short and long-term career goals.
Elena holds a Master of Science in Education in Adult Education from Indiana University. Her work focused on critical pedagogy and the development of non-formal collaborations that allow learners to examine and connect past experiences with present learning to build a stronger sense of self and of community. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Linguistics from Iowa State University.
At home, Elena and her husband, Michael, have the pleasure of parenting a fiercely joyful almost-four-year-old who keeps everyone on their toes.