Rosemary Linares

Consultant, nonprofit management, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Visit my website

Since launching the first Gay-Straight Alliance at Saline High School and receiving the Colin Higgins Courage Award, Rosemary has devoted her work and studies to promoting social justice across the boundaries of race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, and gender identity. She is the Principal of Cross Movement Social Justice Consulting, a consulting group with a mission to advance social justice by increasing the capacity of nonprofit organizations and building alliances across social movements.

Most recently Rosemary was the Nonprofit Management Specialist at NEW: Solutions for Nonprofits. Working individually and in teams, she led strategic planning, organizational development, and diversity and inclusion consulting projects. With support from the Kellogg Foundation, she collaborated with the Michigan Nonprofit Association and Nonprofit Network in the design and delivery of a pilot project to promote diversity, inclusion and equity best practices in the nonprofit sector, starting with 10 organizations in Detroit and Kalamazoo. She co-developed NEW’s Leadership DELI with Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, providing leadership development training to 70 individuals from 35 nonprofits. Another highlight of her tenure was serving as the exclusive facilitator of a regional funder collaborative in Battle Creek. She has also enjoys presenting at conferences including the BoardSource Leadership Forum, the Michigan Nonprofit Association Superconference, and the upcoming Points of Light’s Conference on Volunteering and Service.

Rosemary graduated from New York University with a Master of Public Administration in May of 2010. Prior to graduate school, she was a Program Assistant at the Arcus Foundation, a global foundation working to advance LGBT equity, as well as the conservation and preservation of the great apes. Before working at Arcus, her studies in Latino, Africana, and women’s issues at Antioch College gave her a deeper and broader understanding of the inherent richness and resilience of traditionally marginalized communities as they confront structural forms of oppression in the systems and institutions in this country and beyond. As an undergraduate student, living in Cuba, Mexico, and Ecuador built on that understanding.