Ana López van Balen
Vice President, Economic Security & Justice
Ms. Van Balen is the new Vice President of Economic Security & Justice at Futures Without Violence. She comes to Futures with close to 20 years of executive experience working with a wide array of community stakeholders including tenants, owners of affordable housing, real estate and housing advocates to carry out economic development and revitalization, community development, but also social programming for vulnerable and marginalized youth and families
She recently served the District of Columbia Government as the first Director of Housing Policy and Programs at the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED). In this role, she oversaw housing-related initiatives across the government providing direction for the design of new programs and policies, and corresponding budget and investment proposals. She came to this position having served at the Department of Housing & Community Development as the first ever Affordable Housing Preservation Officer helping preserve the diminishing stock of affordable housing in the District of Columbia while also overseeing 8 programs with a combined budget of $133MM.
Ms. Van Balen holds a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Social Work, with a concentration in program development. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University in Human & Organizational Development with a concentration in Community Development and Social Policy. And she has a Certificate in Public Management through George Washington University’s Council of Governments Institute for Regional Excellence/Regional Executive Development Program.
She is a 2016 Presidential Leadership Scholar, a 2014 Daily Record’s Maryland’s Top 100 Women, a 2011 Center for Progressive Leadership Executive Fellow, 2009 Washingtonian of the Year and 2009 Eugene & Agnes E. Meyer Foundation Exponent Award winner.
Ms. Van Balen is a proud Marylandtonian and lives in Washington, DC with her family, who are believers in living locally–knowing your neighbors, supporting your local community and doing everything you can to help make it a better place for all.
