About
We are CBNC
We care about your growth!
2002
Founded by Carmen Velasquez (Alivio Medical Center), Sister Sheila Lyne (Mercy Hospital & Medical Center), and Dr. Mary Lebold (St Xavier University). CBNC was provided space in the Mercy office building on 26th and Michigan Avenue in Chicago.
2005
Designated a 501(c)(3) non-for profit organization
2009
Relocated from a Mercy office building to offices in Mercy Hospital & Medical Center.
2012
Served more than 500 Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) from more than 52 countries.
2018
Relocated to Daley College/ Arturo Velasquez West Side Tech Institute
2021
With the funding awarded by the Walder Foundation CBNC is collaborating with the Chicago City Colleges and the Welcome Back Initiative to expand its reach by implementing the Chicago Welcome Back Center.
Our Board of Directors
The Chicago Bilingual Nurse Consortium’s Board of Directors is made up of recognized leaders across many areas of expertise. They represent the broad diversity of our membership and contribute significant amounts of time, talent, and energy to further the mission of the organization.
Co-Chair
Annmarie C. Muñana
As a healthcare and academic nurse leader with a commitment to excellence, Ann is a strong believer in continuous improvement for the nursing profession and the health of our patients and communities.
Ann received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Science in Nursing from Georgetown University. In addition, she holds a Master of Jurisprudence in Health Law from Loyola University Chicago, School of Law.
Currently, Ann is Senior Manager, State Licensing and Regulation at Chamberlain University. In this role, Ann supports the University’s academic regulatory compliance program, and serves as a liaison with the
state boards of nursing and accreditors.
As a nurse leader and academic, Ann focuses her efforts to ensure we are preparing, educating, and promoting nurses and nurse leaders to benefit population health and wellbeing. Her passion for leadership and nursing education informs her vision of a diverse nursing workforce that is prepared to meet the needs of the complex and evolving global healthcare landscape.
Annmarie is now current co-chair for CBNC.
Ed. D, Co-Chair
Eva Serrano
M.Ed, Vice Chair
Carmen Velasquez
An impressive leader, a tireless campaigner, and a committed advocate of health care policy, Carmen Velasquez has changed community health care for the Latino, predominantly Mexican, working-poor, uninsured, and immigrant community, As a former community activist, social worker, bilingual education specialist and founder of a non-for-profit community health center. Ms. Velasquez has spent most of her life advocating for universal health care, comprehensive immigration reform, and for workforce development.
As a result of a passionate vision, strong partnerships and the crucial need for bilingual bicultural medical providers for the uninsured and undocumented, Ms. Velasquez founded Alivio Medical Center in 1989 as a bilingual bicultural, nonprofit community health center. $2.1 million was raised to build the first clinic on an empty lot at 2355 S. Western Ave., next to a muffler shop. Alivio Medical Center operates two sites in Pilsen, one in Berwyn, IL and three school-based community health clinics, one at the Little Village Lawndale High School, one at the John Spry Community School and Community Links High School, and one at the Jose Clemente Orozco Community Academy. Nearly 27,000 patients are served annually.
Ms. Velasquez was appointed to the Cook County Health and Hospitals System Board of Directors on June 19, 2012 and completed a four year term in November 2016. Velasquez was notably appointed to the Board of Advisors of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago by the Archbishop of Chicago, Blasé J. Cupich.
Velasquez has received numerous awards for leadership, vision, passion, community organizing and overall outstanding service and dedication to the community. Most recently in March 2016, Ms. Velasquez received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Mujeres Latinas en Accion.
At the present, Ms. Velasquez is focused on the Healthy Illinois Campaign whose mission is to make quality, affordable health care accessible to all people in Illinois, including the undocumented.
Awards
- Mujeres Latinas en Accion- Lifetime Achievement Award
- Loyola’s School Continuing and Professional Studies – Damen Award
- Negocios Now – Community Champion “Who’s Who in Hispanic Chicago”
- NFL – Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award a special recognition from the Chicago Bilingual Nurse Consortium
- Rotary Club Northwest Chicago- Outstanding Achievement & Honorary Rotarian Award
- Campaign for Better Health Care- Social Justice Award
- The Puerto Rican Cultural Center- Bartolo Hernandez de Jesus Lifetime Achievement award
- National Council of La Raza- Helen Rodriguez- Trias Health Award
- Festival Latino del Libro y La Familia- Jaime Escalante Award
- The Friends of the Congressional Glaucoma Caucus Foundation- Luminary Award Senior Citizen Hall of Fame
- Woman Health Executive Network- Woman of the Year Achievement Award
- Hispanic Business- 100 Influential Thought Leaders Award
- The American Diabetes Association- Recognition Award- Alivio Diabetes Self-Management Education Program
- Hispanic Center of Excellence in Medicine- Certificate of Appreciation
- Mexican Government- Distinguished Ohtli Award
- Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office- Humanitarian Award
- Latino Leaders Magazine- maestro Award
- MALDEF- Lifetime Achievement Award
- Cristo Rey Jesuit High School- Viva Award
- American College of Physicians- Richard & Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award
- El Hogar del Niño – Community Award
Leonor Pardo
Leonor Pardo is a Registered Nurse and educator with over 30 years of experience working in various facets of community and public health. She is currently one of four regional trainers for the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). Since taking on this new role in 2022, Leonor has been instrumental in the development and implementation of statewide training efforts for over 50 new and existing employees working within the Division of Long-Term Care. Leonor started her career with IDPH in 2019 as a Health Facilities Surveillance Nurse and was promoted to a Field Supervisor position within a year, in which she led an interdisciplinary team of dieticians, nurses, and social workers in conducting surveys in long-term care facilities throughout Cook County. Leonor’s long-time experience working in long term care has been invaluable to the Department.
Prior to joining IDPH, Leonor spent many years working in various roles in skilled nursing facilities throughout the Chicago area and surrounding suburbs. Using her educational background, with a Master of Science in Gerontology and Non-For-Profit Administration, Leonor has been able to work in roles such as Staff Nurse, Director of Nursing, and Clinical Nurse Consultant for reputable long-term care corporations. In these previous roles, she led clinical nursing staff by providing direction in how to provide specialized care for patients, including cardiac care, wound management, and rehabilitation services. She has played a key role in teams of corporation owners, physicians, and other healthcare providers, to develop and assess quality, preventative care programs to provide patients with the highest levels of quality care. Leonor’s strong desire to keep the patients’ needs above all else, coupled with her leadership skills, aided her in leading her team to achieve five-star status from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Driven by her passion for helping others, Leonor takes pride in providing the best care possible for her patients and her community. Coming from a multi-cultural background has always motivated Leonor to work in bilingual and under-served communities. Not only does Leonor do what’s best for her patients, but she is committed to doing what is right for others in her everyday life. This is exemplified in the work that she does in her free time within her community, such as participating in community garden projects, feeding the homeless, and volunteering. She continues to share her vast nursing knowledge and experience serving as a mentor for nursing assistants and practical nurses to advance their educational goals. She is a member of the Hispanic Nurses Association and in her free time, enjoys spending time with those who are close to her and taking walks with her dog. She is an avid traveler to local and international destinations and is no stranger to swimming with sharks!
Raul Garcia
Raúl García is an immigrant from Mexico City. He served for almost 10 years as the Health Programs Coordinator of the Consulate of Mexico in Chicago. In that capacity, Raúl created the first Consulate’s community health program, and developed a network of partners with agencies, public health departments, elected officials, hospitals, schools and churches in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, as well as a task force with Latin American Consulates of 12 countries represented in the Midwest, that resulted in the Latin American Health Weeks.
In 2005, Raúl was recognized by Gift of Hope with the Lifesaving Partner Award, and by the National Kidney Foundation, with the Community Leadership Award. In 2012, the National Kidney Foundation acknowledged his work for second time with the Gift of Life Award. In 2016, the American Heart Association presented Raúl with two awards: the Community Partner, and the Circle of Service.
In 2012, Raúl joined Sinai Chicago, a safety net health system that provides care for the most vulnerable populations in the west and southwest of Chicago. Currently, he is the Director of Community Relations.
Raúl serves on numerous boards, advisory councils and coalitions that address health disparities in Chicago, including the Latino Alzheimer’s and Memory Disorders Alliance (LAMDA), Chicago Bilingual Nurse Consortium (CBNC), Healthy IL Campaign, Marshall Square Resource Network (MSRN), Brighton Park Neighborhood Network (BPNN), and South West Organizing Project (SWOP), among others.
MSN BSN, RN, HFSN
Ducilene Vilarins Amorim
Ducilene is an internationally educated nurse from Brazil who relocated to the US at the end of 2008. She spent her first year in the US studying English and familiarizing herself with the process of becoming a Registered Nurse in Illinois. During her journey Ducilene was introduced to the CBNC and became a volunteer for the organization, focusing on tracking relicensing processes for 400+ foreign-trained nurses from 52 countries. Later, once licensed, she worked as a faculty member for the CBNC. While she was preparing for the NCLEX she worked as a translator on a project for the Center for Latin Studies at the University of Chicago, and as consultant for a survey project developed by the department of medicine at the University of Chicago.
Ducilene passed the TOEFL and NCLEX exams and began her career in the US working as a Registered Nurse in a rehabilitation hospital. She went on to work as a RN at another hospital in an adult acute care setting. Ducilene is currently employed by the Illinois Department of Public Health where she works as a Public Service Administrator.
Ducilene holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in nursing, as well as two certificates in higher education for healthcare professionals. Prior to her move to the US Ducilene worked in Brazil as a NICU nurse manager and later as manager of an adult acute care hospital unit. She also worked for the State of Maranhão’s Public Health Department where she helped develop and implement the state’s health program for women and children, and also the communicable and infectious diseases program. Ducilene is also an entrepreneur and founded a consulting and services firm to provide home health care services, healthcare staff for hospitals, and consulting for health care providers in her hometown.
Ducilene’s consulting, clinical, and public health experience led her to pursue an academic position as a Professor at the Federal University of Maranhão where she worked as professor of nursing for 11 years. In addition to her duties as a professor, Ducilene also worked as the Department Head for the Nursing Department where she led 31 professors.
During Ducilene’s career she has served as an evaluator / advisor of nursing programs for higher education institutions, as a board member for the Regional Board of Nursing of Maranhão, the agency responsible for issuing nursing licenses and setting guidelines for and monitoring of the practice of nursing under the auspices of Brazil’s national board of nursing, and as a consultant for the Regional Board of Education of the state of Maranhão.
Jenny Aguirre
Ms. Aguirre is a first generation Mexican American with over 25 years working with underserved communities. She has a MBA and is the Administrator of the Refugee Health Program for the Illinois Department of Public Health. She is fluent in Spanish. Her areas of expertise include Financial Management and Relationship Marketing. Ms. Aguirre has been with the Chicago Bilingual Nurse Consortium since its inceptions.
Jenny is motivated by her passion to reduce barriers for those with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), constantly looking, “to overcome the many barriers LEP populations have when accessing Health Care Services.” She has also served on the Boards of St. Augustine College and the Illinois Hunger Coalition.
Jenny currently serves as the Assistant Director at the IL Department of Healthcare and Family Services, and previously served as State Refugee Health Administrator at the IL Dept of Public Health.
RN, MSN, MHA, CNML
Susana González
Susana González is a nurse advocate and leader who fully commits to everything she embraces. Her purpose in life is to leave this world a little better than she found it. She is a phenomenal nurse educator and enjoys mentoring and developing the next generation of nurses and inspiring healthcare promotion at all levels of education.
Susana is currently the nurse educator for ASI NE Inc. agency in Chicago. In addition, she is an adjunct faculty at DePaul University school of nursing master’s entry program. Susana is strong in developing and leading operations, academics, simulation skill learning, and partnership development champion.
Throughout her career Susana has role modeled true servant leadership and has served on numerous committees and board of directors of key organizations on a local, state, and national levels. She continues to be at the forefront on health care issues for women, infants, children, and the nursing profession. She is active on advisory committees for elected officials in the State of Illinois and she is an exemplar advocate for public policy change specifically in the nursing profession and diversity and inclusion in higher education.
Susana has served on many boards of directors, such as the March of Dimes-Chicago, Mujeres Latinas en Accion, and the Chicago Bilingual Nurse Consortium. She is past president of the Illinois chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. She co-leads the All of Us grant efforts in Illinois chapter for NAHN. She is active member of Illinois Organization of Nurse Leaders, the American Nurses Association-Illinois, and the Illinois Nurses Foundation where she serves on the board of directors. She is a strong advocate on their legislative & policy committees.
Susana has received numerous nominations, recognitions, and awards for her compassionate servant leadership work. Such as the National Association of Hispanic Nurses-Community Service Award and the March of Dimes-Jonas Salk Nurse of the Year award for her commitment to service. She was named Nurse of the Year for the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and Ambassador of the year in 2018. Locally she was awarded the Nurse Leadership award for Illinois chapter of NAHN in 2019. She was selected as NURSE Influencer by ANA-Illinois for the 2020 year and DePaul University Woman of Spirit and Action! In July of 2023 she received the NAHN Janie Menchaca Leadership award.
Susana is well prepared educationally with dual master’s degrees MSN and MHA. She is a life role model for nursing education and community servant leadership.
On a personal note: She lives by the philosophy that if there is something, she can do for you now, then let it be so. For, we may not walk this path again.
Jose J. Lopez
Work History:
He has been an Illinois state employee for 33 years, currently is the Chief of the Office of Latino Services, a Child Welfare statewide position, for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). He serves as a principal policy-formulating administrator, overseeing all Latino services and related issues for the state agency. Provides advice and guidance to the Affirmative Action Deputy on matters involving Latino services; acts as the liaison to various entities, such as, governmental, media, philanthropic, foreign consulates and community leaders. He works with various Latino coalitions through the state of Illinois, during the year. In addition, he has worked on various reports addressing Asian, Indian Child Welfare, diversity, foster care, and recruitment of staff. He has experience in coordinating various in person and virtual major conferences/summits. He worked as the Assistant Chief prior to this position and has worked for 16 years total with this state agency.
Prior to DCFS, he served as Special Assistant to the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Secretary on Hispanic/Latino Affairs and he also served as Director of the IDHS Hispanic/Latino Affairs Office. Prior to that position, he served as the Chief, of the Bureau of Latino Relations and Statewide Translations Section, under the Department of Public Aid’s Ombudsperson Division, completing 17 years with that state agency.
He worked for the Legal Assistance Foundation as an immigration paralegal in 1980, after he graduated for the University of Illinois as a Latino American Studies major, where he had the Silva Case on his caseload which allowed immigrants to stay in the United States, becoming eligible to become legal permanent residents, which was the first immigrant amnesty program in the United States.
Community Involvement:
Jose Javier Lopez is in his third year as the League of United Latin American Citizens’ Midwest Vice-President, he covers various Midwestern states and currently based in Chicago Illinois. Prior to that, he had been the LULAC of Illinois State Director for 4 years. LULAC is the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights volunteer based organization that empowers Hispanic American and builds strong Latino communities. In this position, he has been in contact with ACLU, MALDEF, AIPAC and other national organizations.
He was the Illinois Association of Hispanic State Employee’s President for 3 years starting in 2003, when he introduced and encouraged the Illinois Latino Legislative Caucus to advocate strongly to passing the Hispanic Employment Plan Bill which passed and was signed by the Governor. He advocated creation of the Latino Unity Day in the state capitol Springfield, which is now in its 8th year where various Latino organizations advocate for Latino bills and issues affecting the Latino Community. He is currently on the Boards of the Illinois Migrant Council, SER Jobs for Progress, Illinois Association of Agencies and Community Organizations on Migrant Affairs, Catholic Charities of Chicago’s Latino Advisory Committee, Casa Club Yuriria, The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, (Latino Board) and the Chicago Day of the Child Parade Committee.
He was formerly on the Board or Commission of the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, Chicago Bilingual Nurses Consortium, Por un Barrio Mejor, Midwest Coalition in Defense of the Immigrant, Latinos for a Healthy Illinois, Illinois Association of Healthcare Interpreters, Governor’s Office of New Americans, the State of Illinois’ Latino Family Commission and Central Management Services State Agency’s Hispanic Employment Plan Council and Inspiring Latinas.
Education:
University of Illinois in Chicago, BA degree in Latino American Studies.
Languages:
English/Spanish
Our Funders
