Lorelei Atalie Vargas has three decades of experience in the non-profit and government sectors focused on critical areas of child and family wellbeing including physical health, substance abuse, mental health, education, childcare and food insecurity. Lorelei currently serves as chief community impact officer of Trinity Church Wall Street, where she has developed and led a place-based initiative to focus holistically on addressing the wellbeing of communities across New York City. Prior to her current appointment, Lorelei served as deputy commissioner for child and family wellbeing with the City of New York where she developed and administered the country’s first child welfare division dedicated to using a two-generation approach to strengthen programs, leverage existing resources, and building on the assets that are inherent in families. Prior to that appointment, Lorelei served as New York City’s deputy commissioner of early care and education, leading the country’s largest publicly funded subsidized childcare system, serving the needs of close to 110,000 children with a budget of over $1 billion annually, where she led reforms that expanded access to and improved the quality of childcare.
Lorelei earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bryn Mawr College, where she currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees. Lorelei also holds two Master’s degrees, one in Public Policy and one in Education Administration and Policy, both from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. Lorelei was named a Pahara Fellow (2017) for her work on equity in education and an Ascend Fellow (2018) for her leadership in developing two-generation systems, both from the Aspen Institute where she is a member of the Aspen Global Network. In 2020, Lorelei was named to New York’s City and State’s Responsible 100 list, for her thought leadership in creating transformational social change.
