Creating a path to Prosperity
Federico Rios recently joined the City of Charlotte to serve as the city’s first immigrant and integration manager. Having worked with various school systems, psychiatric treatment facilities and non-profits, Rios brings a wealth of institutional knowledge and first-hand experience to the organization.
As son of an immigrant and someone who has endured poverty at various stages in life, Rios keenly understands the challenges faced by the immigrant community and the dynamics of social capital.
We sat down with Rios to talk more about his new role, personal experiences and journey in public service.
Tell us a little bit about your professional background.
I went to the State University of New York at Stony Brook, graduating with a degree in English, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do after school. As I was trying to figure it out, a good friend who was working in a psychiatric residential treatment facility in Long Island suggested that I work with him there. I worked on a campus that served 125 boys that were either referred by the New York State office of Mental Health due to severe emotional/behavioral disabilities, youth classified as juvenile delinquents by the court system, children in foster care and youth sexual offenders. I went into that work and fell in love with serving communities.
These were young people who had gone through similar things that I had experienced. I grew up in South Jamaica Queens in poverty and faced other challenging situations. Thankfully, I had two incredibly loving and hard-working parents that gave me as much as they could.
Serving these young people changed me. I went to school for English and thought I was going to get a degree and go into publishing, but this changed my life. From there I decided I wanted to serve people.
Growing up, what type of work did you imagine yourself doing?
My dad — probably the person who had the most impact in my life — was at work and fell into a condensation tank filled with boiling water. He was in the hospital for three months getting skin grafts and all types of other things done afterward he was permanently disabled and could not return to work. So we went from a two-income household in a starter home to a family that became dependent on my mother’s income struggling to make ends meet. My mother is from Colombia and as she worked a job where many of her coworkers were in a similar circumstance.
So growing up, there were limitations. There were things that I didn’t know existed. My mom went to high school in Colombia and my dad is a middle school dropout. They taught me as much as they knew, but there were extreme limitations. For example, a big focus for them was making sure that I got to college and made something of my life, but they didn’t know what that meant. They didn’t know what that took, both financially and discipline wise for myself. I can’t say that I had a well-developed plan for what I wanted to be in life until much later in life.
What’s interesting about my story of living in poverty early on is that it reoccurred in my adult life. When we moved to Charlotte, I lost my first job and ended up on food stamps. I found myself in the same challenging circumstances as the individuals that I served. All of that keeps you really humble and also helps you to recognize the importance of serving other people just as you would want to be served.
The announcement of your hire provided insight into what you’ll do in as the immigrant and integration manager. What else will you be involved in that might not have been put on paper?
My work will be specifically focused on the Immigrant Integration Task Force Report that came out in 2015. The task force was a community effort convened by the City of Charlotte to address the needs of the city’s immigrant community. I’m really tackling how to handle those recommendations.
In addition, I serve as a voice for those immigrants who may not feel their voice will be heard by our city. I’ll serve as an extension of what our city manager truly wants, which is an all-inclusive community; a community of residents who feel that their voice can be heard and that their buy-in is vital for our success. This role allows me to give my talents to a community that I am permanently indebted to.
What are the talents you’re bringing to the table?
Beyond being a resource broker, I synthesize information very well. I feel that I’m very well informed, and I’m always thirsty for information. I like consuming knowledge and information and using it to the benefit of the people.
Also, by serving on the Leading on Opportunity Council, I’m seeing so much of how our community is transitioning into a place of opportunity for all. Bringing that lens to this work positions me to do some really great things.
A lot of your pervious work dealt with crisis intervention and mental health. Do you see yourself continuing to have a positive impact in those areas, directly or indirectly, though your work with the city?
Once you’ve worked in mental health, and by extension crisis intervention, that never leaves you. You serve as an advocate for those issues wherever you go. A good deal of work I’ve done within Communities In Schools was dedicated to the mental health needs of young people. The fact that we serve the public, you have to be mindful of where people are in their journey — whatever state of life in which you find yourself engaging them in. Awareness of the challenges they face, both internal and external, positions you to be able to serve them in the best way possible.
You’re now a part of a large institution that carries with it challenges from the past. In some cases, people are not trusting of government at any level. How do you plan to use your relationships and capital you’ve established in the community to overcome those challenges?
I think the biggest way is being transparent; and I’m transparent to a fault. The more transparent you are the less narratives are created on the back-end. Less people fill in the space with what makes sense to them. I plan on keeping people informed with the best information that I have, and keeping them constantly abreast of the work that is being done. We’re better off as a community with informed citizens.
You’ve lived in Charlotte for a little over a decade. How has charlotte changed in that time? How has the city become special, and what challenges have emerged?
When I arrived 11 years ago, if you were to say you were Latino or Latinx, the first perception would be that you were Mexican. I think that was a long-standing perception in Charlotte. Within those 11 years, the community has become much more aware of the diversity within our broader Latino community.
Data shows that we are now the fastest growing metro area for Latinos in the country. We also have a huge Southeast Asian population, we have a burgeoning Iraqi population, and we have a lot of Congolese in our community. We are richly diverse and I think that always benefits an area to have different viewpoints, different understandings and different places of cultural knowledge.
For someone who may not be familiar with the city’s culture, how would you recommend they experience the beauty of Charlotte’s diversity?
It’s looking for diversity. It’s going out to the various festivals, or driving down Central Avenue and Albemarle Road, or even corridors in Pineville. In many communities, challenges arise when people become comfortable in routines. It’s much easier to talk to individuals who look and sound like us. Challenge yourself to have discussions with different people and build real relationships, not just transactional ones.
Two weeks in, what goals have you set for yourself in this position?
Above all else, I would see myself successful in this role if I’ve helped Charlotte be perceived and known as a welcoming city for all. That’s incredibly broad but that is the depth of it; really looking at our community as a place where people truly feel supported and feel that we are a community of individuals who take care of one another. For more, that’s success.
Hopefully long after I’m gone my children could say my dad helped make the city a better place and helped communities form and thrive.
How is Charlotte perceived today?
I don’t think we’re there. I know that individuals who come here don’t always feel welcomed. Beyond city government, across the board, we sometimes live in siloes or bubbles. Breaking down those invisible barriers and creating opportunities for persons to build relationships is important. We’re not fully there and that’s ok. I think we’ve progressed a great deal in the 11 years I’ve been here and it’s a constant progression. My position was created because the city manager sees this as being really important in our community. I’m incredibly humbled to fill this position because I know this work will live long past this role.
This is your introduction to more than 8,000 colleagues across the organization. Is there anything you want to leave with your fellow public servants?
When I moved to Charlotte, it took me a while to feel as if I were home. I have not had that experience coming on with the city. Coming from non-profits that very much functioned as a family, it’s thrilling to be in a place where everyone is here to support one another.
I’m just grateful that everyone has welcomed me and made me feel as if I’m home already.
