Natalia Uro-De León
Sustainable Development Advocate
About
The experiences I’ve acquired throughout my life have bolstered my understanding of sustainability, resilience, and equity. These learnings led me to recognize that sustainable, inclusive development can foster thriving communities. I carry this comprehension into classrooms, my personal life, and all future endeavors.
Global Education
My father’s Navy service set my childhood in Gaeta, Italy, and Cascais, Portugal. Growing up abroad instilled in me at an early age an appreciation of languages, cultures, and perspectives. We found comfort and support in diverse and welcoming environments despite being so far from home. My mom relied on the generosity and support of locals as she raised me and my sister while my dad was deployed. We grew close with an Italian family that ran a café called Briobar around the corner. They were the type of support system that would take a day off, rally up their entire clan, and accompany my family to the pediatrician’s office to help translate paperwork and conversations while entertaining me and my sister. This display of kindness and compassion was not lost on us, they would soon become my godparents and to this day they remain a part of the family.
As I grew up, hazy memories became clearer as my parents reminisced allowing me to recognize how their efforts to acclimate and include us promoted my family’s resilience. Today, I consider these learnings the foundations of two of my core values: inclusion and resilience. This experience helped to establish my public service career goal of promoting community resilience through inclusion and procedural equity.
Most recently, I studied in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where my understanding of inclusion and resilience significantly evolved and expanded. In museum galleries, along Paulista Avenue, and while riding the metro, I experienced how inclusive infrastructure embraces and empowers people of all abilities and identities. Universal infrastructure is intentional development that seamlessly makes social engagement not only accessible but comfortable for all. As I absorbed a work of art silently in a gallery located in the heart of the Latin America Memorial, an older gentleman appeared urging me to touch the masterpiece. Speechless at such a request, I watched as he traced the surface of the painting. I followed his hands toward the edge of the painting where I noticed a legend in braille describing the elements of the painting. This work of art was meant to be experienced by all regardless of visual capacity. At many other museums I visited, I found inclusive experiences akin to that exhibit.
Similarly, even the busiest walkway of Sao Paulo, Paulista Avenue, featured grooves on its surface so that the visually impaired could navigate safely along the entire strip. On the metros, preferential seating was reserved for the elderly, physically impaired, and pregnant individuals, but also mourning individuals and for those diagnosed with autism. Notable signage encouraged all riders to respect preferential seating to make commuting comfortable for everyone. The universal infrastructure I interacted with in Sao Paulo conveyed a type of compassion and attention to detail that makes communities more inclusive, and in turn, more productive. Sao Paulo embodied inclusion so deeply, not out of necessity but out of a genuine desire to engage everyone in a fulfilling way. I carry these learnings with me in the way that I approach sustainable development keeping accessibility and inclusivity always in mind. As a public servant, I will advocate for development that makes community involvement accessible and empowering for all constituents.
The lived experiences I’ve highlighted capture the ever-evolving nature of my values and understanding of resilience, sustainability, and inclusion. These learnings led me to recognize how sustainable, inclusive development can enhance the standard of living for communities. I carry this comprehension into classrooms, my personal life, and all future endeavors. I recognize the disconnect between public service representation and community demographics, which often results in blind spots or misguided initiatives that fail to adequately address the challenges experienced by low-income and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities.
As a Latina, I am a part of an underrepresented group historically excluded from decision-making and disproportionately impacted by underinvestment and environmental degradation. To redress inequities, the public service sector must commit to the inclusion of underserved and underrepresented groups in defining solutions, and I aim to become part of this problem-solving effort. The pandemic and the aftermath exposed the stark flaws in so many of our systems from housing to transportation to education, with the most affected being low-income and BIPOC communities. There is an urgency to address systemic shortcomings, which I see as an opportunity to help transform public services to ultimately foster a more just and sustainable community.