Our Residents

Zenaida Burgos has begun a new chapter in a life that has been filled with empowering others.

Newly hired at Springfield Housing Authority as outreach coordinator with the Talk/Read/Succeed! program, she now works with families at Robinson Gardens and John L. Sullivan Apartments.

In that role, the native of Puerto Rico and longtime Worcester resident will further the T/R/S! goal of boosting literacy among young children in an approach that encompasses families in the home, school and community. Burgos said the work feels like a perfect fit for her.

“I have a passion for working with families, supporting people, and help people become empowered within their own lives,” Burgos said. “I feel like this is a great place for me.”

Lynne Cimino, left, T/R/S! outreach coordinator, with newly hired Zenaida Burgos, who will work with her at Robinson Gardents and Sullivan apartments.

Indeed, Burgos has carved out a professional life helping people in need, and connecting them with anything and everything that might help them.

A native Spanish speaker, Burgos moved with her family from Puerto Rico to the central Massachusetts city when she was six. She remained in that city as she grew up, and during her time as a student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

She worked for 14 years at the Rape Crisis Center of Central Massachusetts, starting out as a bilingual counselor and legal advocate and eventually, as director of the agency’s ‘Llamanos y Hablemos’ program, which provided services to Spanish-speaking sexual assault victims. In that role she did case management, crisis intervention, counseling, and legal and medical advocacy.

She also held positions in Massachusetts Probate and Family Court in Worcester, and as director of a community-based program called Kids Helping Hunger in the Hood, also in Worcester.

At SHA, her focus will be more on early literacy and family support of that. But she will also spend much time, as she did in her work in Worcester, reaching out to families and helping them understand the importance of literacy learning, and how to enhance that in their homes and lives.

SHA Resident Services Manager Pamela Wells said Burgos is making a solid early impact, along with Lynne Cimino, who has worked as a T/R/S! outreach coordinator since the program began nearly three years ago.

“We chose Zenaida because she has had a lot of relevant experience that makes her a good match for the job,” Wells said.

“We’re very happy with her. She has already begun to outreach our families at Robinson Gardens and Sullivan, on behalf of the T/R/S! initiative,” Wells added.

For her part, Burgos has high hopes for her work here.

“I want to energize families to seek services available in our program, and to help people understand how important literacy is in a child’s life,” Burgos said. “I think I bring new enthusiasm, ideas and passion to the job.”