After nearly three years as the East Boston Main Street (EBMS) Director, Gladys Oliveros will be leaving her post for a new position with Mayor Michelle Wu’s Administration.
Oliversos, who took over for outgoing EBMS Director Max Gruner back in 2019, has been a fixture in East Boston since immigrating from Colombia 35 years ago.
“East Boston Main Streets would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Gladys Oliveros for her service to our organization and the East Boston community,” said the EBMS Board in a statement. “She has been deeply dedicated to our mission, working extremely hard to connect local businesses and community members to the resources they need to grow and thrive.”
Oliveros tenure as EBMS Director coincided with some of the most challenging times in the organization’s history, but she stepped up to meet the moment over and over again.
“She worked to keep our local businesses afloat during the pandemic by helping secure millions of dollars in loans and grants for them,” contited the statement from the board. “She launched and managed beautification projects in various parts of the community. She consistently went beyond her core duties to care for neighbors in need, doing things like distributing food and grocery cards to families that felt the worst of the effects of the pandemic. East Boston Main Streets and the East Boston community will truly miss her service in this role. However, we are excited that she will continue to serve our community and extend her reach to many other Bostonians in her new role within Mayor Michelle Wu’s Administration.”
Prior to joining Main Streets, Oliveros worked as a program supervisor at Boston Center for Youth and Families’ Paris Street site.
A native of Barranquilla, Colombia Oliveros moved to Eastie over three decades ago.
Before working for BCYF Oliveros founded Casa de la Cultura. Casa de la Cultura is a Community Center focused on the Latino population of Eastie–offering education, information, recreational and cultural events to promote diversity growth among our community. The organization offered language classes, computer classes, chess classes for kids, citizenship’s classes as well as immigration services, and fitness.
The nonprofit community improvement organization committed to fostering an inclusive community that supports the growth and well-being of the small business community and residents has now begun its search for Oliveros’s replacement.
“We are now looking for another great community leader to lead our organization,” said the board. “Our hiring process has begun to find a new executive director. Please email [email protected] for any inquiries or check out our posting on indeed.com.”
Main Streets started as a novel idea–to take a stretch of Eastie’s business district along Meridian Street decimated in the 1970s by poor design, steel grates and unsightly signage and transform it into an attractive commercial area with a uniformed look.
Throughout the 1990s EBMS exploded onto the scene handing out grants to business owners on board with Main Streets’s vision of storefront improvements and a more welcoming business.