Rob Carmona
Founding Executive Director and President
STRIVE International

Robert Carmona is the Founding Executive Director, and current President of STRIVE/East Harlem Employment Services, Inc. Prior to his tenure with STRIVE, Mr. Carmona held senior executive positions at a number of non-profit organizations in the New York area including the Court Employment Project, the Downstate Medical Center, the Greater New York Fund/United Way, the City Volunteer Corps, and the Wildcat Service Corporation. Mr. Carmona is a graduate of Columbia University School of Social Work, where he was awarded an MSW in 1982, and is a 1979 graduate of the College of New Rochelle.

Mr. Carmona, or Rob, as he prefers to be called, leads by powerful personal example. An ex offender himself, he reminds each new class of STRIVE participants that: "Life promise’s to give back what one puts in." Today Rob continues to guide the organization’s national and international growth and make presentations to the classes in New York, giving new initiates a taste of what commitment to STRIVE entails.

Under his stewardship, STRIVE grew from a small, housing project housed community based organization to a national/international Workforce franchise with sites in 21 U.S. cities, as well as 3 sites in the United Kingdom (London, England, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, Derry, Ireland) and 3 sites in the State of Israel (Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem).

About Strive
STRIVE is a workforce development agency based in East Harlem that has been transforming the lives of the hardest-to-employ for nearly 25 years. Over 40,000 people from New York, 21 domestic affiliates, and 7 international affiliates have benefited from our belief that every individual has the power to change, to re-create themselves, and to begin anew. For more information, visit http://www.striveinternational.org

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