Cynthia Silva Parker

Senior Associate

Cynthia Silva Parker is a seasoned capacity builder with more than three decades of experience strengthening organizations and equipping leaders who pursue social justice and racial equity. She finds great joy in the ah-ha moments when people learn a new skill or connect their lived experiences to new ideas. She loves guiding groups to deeper understanding and solid agreements about things that matter. And it’s a great day when she can connect good people to one another and to resources to support their work.

Cynthia has served as a senior associate at the Interaction Institute for Social Change since 1998, delivering facilitation, training, consulting, and coaching services in the nonprofit, public, and philanthropic sectors. She also has led or co-led the development of several IISC workshops, including Advancing Racial Justice in Organizations, the Fundamentals of Facilitation for Racial Justice Work and Collaborative Social Change.

Cynthia’s prior leadership experiences include director of Boston Freedom Summer, the Ten Point Coalition’s faith-based youth develop project, and project administrator for the Algebra Project, Inc., a national education reform network fighting for quality education as a civil right.

Cynthia is the mother of three young adult sons, who bring her joy. Cynthia holds a BA from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges and Master of Public Policy/City and Regional Planning from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Check out her talks: What Will It Take To End Racism? (spoiler alert: it’s about building collective will, skill, knowledge and strategies) and Race Talk: Moving Beyond the Surface (“Let’s make the 21 century the century where love erased the color line!”).

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