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Emily Adelman

Biography

PROFILE: Emily Adelman was an extraordinary student during her undergraduate days at Cornell, and in the four years since she bid farewell to Ithaca, NY, she’s worked for the Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) in suburban Washington, DC. A Spanish major with a love for languages, Emily found her niche at LEDC, a community-based economic development organization that works with Latinos and other groups that are underserved, helping them navigate the formal US financial systems. Emily’s held several increasingly responsible positions at LEDC, and currently provides support and counsel to an alliance of local small businesses in the areas of advocacy, economic growth and environmental sustainability. “When we see one of our clients do business with another client, teach a friend about how to build good credit, or testify before the local government about legislation that affects his or her neighborhood, we can actually see the impact of community development happening before our eyes,” Emily said. 

INSPIRATION: Emily fondly recalls Cornell Professor Nick Salvatore’s impact on her life and future course of studies. During an American Studies class, Dr. Salvatore lectured on “Freedom Summer,” the 1964 campaign to register black voters in Mississippi where three volunteers (one was a Cornell graduate) were killed. “He clearly felt a personal charge to help us understand an era that was part of his own memory.” Emily chose to study Martin Luther King’s social gospel for her final paper and her professor’s down-to-earth style “helped [her] to approach the paper in a personal way, allowing a subject connected to [her] own Christian worldview to have some space in a thoroughly postmodern academic atmostphere. [She] will always cherish Salvatore's open mind and heart.”   

ASPIRATION: Once Emily attains her graduate degree in Spanish with a focus on bilingual/multicultural education, she hopes to teach Spanish in adult educational settings and to continue to work with the Latino community in the Washington, DC area. In the long run, Emily plans to explore the social interaction of languages, especially that of Spanish and English in the United States.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE:   There is probably no way of knowing how many Hispanic residents Emily has helped navigate America’s confusing financial system in her years at LEDC. But in addition to her duties with that firm, Emily is deeply involved with dance ministry at her church in Wheaton, MD and has also served as a volunteer Spanish literacy tutor for Spanish-speaking adults in Washington, DC.

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