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Former and current employees of Denver school board candidate Mariana del Hierro are publicly raising concerns about her leadership and treatment of the immigrant women who work for her and are reflective of the community she would represent if elected.
But the board of directors of the nonprofit organization del Hierro leads is standing by her and praising her work. Del Hierro declined to discuss the specifics of the claims but said she’s made changes to grow the organization and improve the lives of her employees.
“I care about my team and I take feedback very seriously,” said del Hierro, executive director of Re:Vision, a nonprofit organization that runs urban gardens, a free grocery store, and other food and nutrition programs in the predominantly Latino Westwood neighborhood.
Del Hierro is seeking to unseat incumbent Xóchitl “Sochi” Gaytán in southwest Denver’s heavily Latino District 2. In all, four seats on the seven-member school board are up for grabs Nov. 4. The election comes at a key time for Denver Public Schools, which is facing declining enrollment, threats from the Trump administration, and pressure to raise student achievement.
The concerns about del Hierro are coming from former and current promotoras, a term that originated in Latin America and means community health workers. At Re:Vision, the promotoras are local women trained in urban agriculture and healthy living to work with Spanish-speaking families on projects such as planting home gardens and learning to cook healthy food.
Several of these women, as well two of del Hierro’s former executive assistants, wrote letters this past spring expressing concerns about how del Hierro treated them. The letters were sent to Re:Vision’s board of directors and published on a website and Instagram page that the promotoras said they made as a call to action for the Re:Vision board.
The website features testimonials from nine former and current Re:Vision staff members expressing concerns about del Hierro’s behavior.
The website also features a statement of concern signed by 13 Re:Vision promotoras and team members and a separate similar statement signed by representatives of seven community organizations that have collaborated with Re:Vision. The community organizations wrote the promotoras’ stories were “deeply troubling.”
The two men who founded the organization in 2007 also wrote a letter that’s featured on the website. It calls on the Re:Vision board to address what they characterized as a “a systemic issue” based on “credible, painful, and consistent accounts.”
The promotoras’ testimonials say that del Hierro has created a stressful work environment at Re:Vision in the three and a half years since she took the helm. The promotoras wrote that they feel overworked, undervalued, and afraid to make mistakes because they fear being criticized, demoted, pushed out, or fired. They asked the Re:Vision board for a formal investigation.
“I didn’t think the way we’ve been treated was fair,” Mayra Olivas, who started at Re:Vision as a promotora, said in Spanish. The promotoras are Latina women, not all of whom have a formal education or speak fluent English, she said. Olivas described the dynamic as a power imbalance that makes the promotoras feel pressured.
“She takes advantage of our vulnerability,” Olivas said of del Hierro.
Several promotoras are also mothers of Denver Public Schools students and are representative of the southwest Denver community of District 2, which is home to many immigrant families.
Community leaders who are supporting del Hierro’s school board candidacy say the promotoras’ website is a distraction. But the promotoras say the website has nothing to do with del Hierro’s run for school board. Olivas said she didn’t know del Hierro was running until she read a Chalkbeat story about her candidacy that was published on July 30, after the website went up.
Del Hierro said she can’t discuss Re:Vision personnel issues out of respect for everyone involved and because the organization’s policy forbids it. But she said she has acted with integrity and transparency. The concerns raised by the promotoras prompted Re:Vision to bring in an outside consultant “to ensure fairness across our organization,” del Hierro said.
“My goal has always been to build an environment where people feel respected and heard,” she said.
In a written statement, the Re:Vision board said it “takes staff feedback seriously and remains committed to maintaining a safe, respectful workplace.” The board said it will continue to work alongside del Hierro during what it called an “important chapter” in the organization’s history.
In her time as executive director, del Hierro said she has grown the staff from four full-time and six part-time employees to 10 full-time and eight part-time employees. She said she raised money to ensure employees had jobs year round and not just during the growing season.
“For me, it was very important to change that structure, especially when we’re talking about the jobs we specifically create at Re:Vision for immigrant women who live in our community,” she said.
Del Hierro said she has also expanded Re:Vision’s free grocery store and youth programming and increased its number of urban farms from one to three, in addition to the family gardens.
“That growth has also meant we have faced some challenges and growing pains,” del Hierro said. “But we are working together to best meet the needs of our team.”
Some current and former employees feel differently. Chalkbeat spoke with nine women who either work for Re:Vision or recently left the organization. Most did not want to be quoted by name for fear of losing their jobs. Olivas alleged that’s what happened to her after she emailed Re:Vision’s board with her concerns about del Hierro.
In an email to the board in May, Olivas wrote that del Hierro had put her on a performance improvement plan, according to a copy of the email posted on the promotoras’ website. While Olivas wrote that some of del Hierro’s feedback about her performance “may have been valid,” she said that del Hierro’s tone was “harsh and demoralizing” and left Olivas feeling belittled.
“Staff are often afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation,” Olivas wrote to the board, “and conversations that should be opportunities for mutual growth or clarity instead become moments of tension, pressure, and emotional harm.”
Olivas was fired from her position as Re:Vision’s director of education shortly after she contacted the board, according to emails between del Hierro and Olivas and between Olivas and the board that are posted on the website.
The reason given for Olivas’ firing was that she did not show up to a meeting with del Hierro and Re:Vision board member Paul López to discuss Olivas’ performance, according to the emails. The emails show Olivas had asked that a different board member attend the meeting and that interpretation be provided.
López, a former Denver city council member who now serves as the city clerk and recorder, declined to comment for this story. He is no longer on the Re:Vision board.
Del Hierro said she has never retaliated against any Re:Vision employees but that she can’t share more details because of the company’s policies.
“I believe in creating a respectful process and a respectful team environment,” del Hierro said.
Samantha Torres said she also had a difficult experience with del Hierro. Torres said she was del Hierro’s executive assistant for about six months last year. Torres alleged she left Re:Vision after experiencing a “gradual beat down” that she said stemmed from feeling like she did not have the proper training to do her job.
Torres claimed that she sometimes struggled with her work tasks but that del Hierro made her feel ashamed instead of helping her to improve.
Del Hierro said she can’t discuss Torres’ specific situation.
“I know leadership can be challenging, and I strive to strike a balance between compassion and accountability,” del Hierro said.
Re:Vision founders Joseph Teipel and Eric Kornacki said the promotora program was partly conceived as a way to train and uplift the women themselves. The promotoras were paid for their work and held to performance standards as employees, but they were also taught skills and given support to help them do their jobs well and become leaders, Teipel and Kornacki said.
The promotora program “is the heart and soul of the organization,” Kornacki said. “If that’s eroded, the organization doesn’t have a standing in the community.”
Kornacki and Teipel left Re:Vision in 2019. They did not overlap with del Hierro and said they were not involved in the creation of the website or Instagram account, though they did write a letter of support for the promotoras and request some information from the current board of directors.
Former Denver school board president Theresa Peña, who worked for DPS for years in food and nutrition services, is supporting del Hierro’s school board candidacy.
“She’s smart and she’s very deeply committed to the work of the community,” Peña said.
Peña said she doesn’t believe a candidate’s work or personal history should disqualify them from office unless they have been convicted of something serious, such as abusing children.
Alexis Menocal Harrigan, a DPS parent who worked for the district and previously ran for school board, is also supporting del Hierro, who she said “has been such a strong leader in Westwood.”
“Rather than celebrate the success of a leader in our community, we have people who are organizing an effort to try to tear her down,” Menocal Harrigan said.
Del Hierro has been endorsed by Denver Families Action, an advocacy group that spent $950,000 in 2023 to support three Denver school board candidates. All three candidates won. This year, del Hierro is among four candidates that Denver Families Action is supporting.
In a statement, Denver Families Action said it is “aware that questions have been raised” about del Hierro’s role at Re:Vision. Denver Families Action said it can’t speak to Re:Vision’s “internal processes,” but that del Hierro impressed the community panel that helped inform its endorsements.
“Panelists highlighted her humility, authenticity, and commitment to bridging the gap between DPS and the community, especially for Latinx students and working families,” the statement said.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
