Mary Ambrose
Mary Ambrose serves as the Chief Equity and Impact Officer at United Way of Southeast Louisiana (UWSELA). With over 25 years of experience, Ambrose leads the organization's community impact efforts alongside a dedicated team of volunteers and expert staff. Her responsibilities include guiding volunteer leadership recruitment and development, conducting research, fostering community engagement and partnerships, identifying community challenges and solutions, and overseeing the distribution of funds raised through the annual workplace campaign.
As Chief Impact Officer, Ambrose spearheaded efforts to ensure UWSELA's relevance across its seven parishes. Recognizing the importance of community input, she facilitated opportunities for residents to share their aspirations, which resulted in the Blueprint for Prosperity. The Blueprint guides UWSELA's mission to eradicate poverty through a lens of equity, awareness of racism, and family support, with a vision health, education, and economically stability for all.
Under Ambrose's leadership, UWSELA distributes millions of dollars annually to local nonprofits across the Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes. She also played pivotal roles in disaster-relief efforts following hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ida and the Gulf Oil Spill. Ambrose is recognized for creating strategic processes that emphasize accountability and results. These processes help expand funding for collaborations and initiatives that address systemic poverty and inform public policy efforts.
Ambrose helped establish UWSELA's first Prosperity Center, conduct The ALICE Report on financial hardship in Louisiana, and launch United Way's Prosperity Dashboard designed to inform the community about poverty issues. Additionally, she initiated the Jefferson and St. Tammany Louisiana Prisoner Reentry Initiative and supervises a team of 14 as a member of the UWSELA's leadership team.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ambrose directed relief efforts, partnering with Black-led organizations, to allocate over $3 million in funding from the BET Saving Ourselves COVID relief to address health and housing crises.
Recently promoted to Chief Equity and Impact Officer, Ambrose leads efforts to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion practices across the organization. Her duties also include talent pipeline strategies, diversity metrics and reporting, training and development programs, and ensuring equitable funding practices and diverse partnerships.
Ambrose holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a minor in Psychology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a Master of Social Work degree with a concentration in Administration, Planning and Organizing from Southern University at New Orleans. She is a Licensed Master of Social Worker and a member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). In 2022, Ambrose earned a Certification in Diversity and Inclusion from eCornell at Cornell University. Committed to the Â鶹¹ú²ú Impact model, Ambrose strives to improve lives by mobilizing communities to create sustained changes in community conditions.