Aspen FSP Welcomes Three New Members to Its Community Advisory Group

In 2021, the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program launched its Community Advisory Group, a cohort of six on-the-ground leaders working to advance financial security in their communities. Over the last four years, they have helped to shape and direct Aspen FSP’s strategic priorities, contributing to efforts on wealth, emergency savings, scams and fraud, and benefits access.

Now, three new members will join the Community Advisory Group: Ariana Arana Bermudez, Antonio Gutierrez Estrada, and William Moreno. All three are passionate young adult leaders dedicated to creating financial security in their communities, and as college students and recent graduates, they bring a critical perspective on the specific economic challenges facing young people today. 

“The Aspen Institute is proud to welcome Ariana, Antonio, and William to Aspen FSP’s Community Advisory Group,” said Dan Porterfield, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute. “Their inclusion speaks to the Institute’s strategic commitment to engaging and empowering rising generations across our programs, and they join a growing group of advisors representing a range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. I know that these three young leaders in particular will add a great deal to this important work.”

The newly expanded Community Advisory Group will meet this month in Chicago as part of the group’s annual in-person convening. Together with the Aspen FSP team, they will reflect on the group’s impact to date and plan for its 2026 engagement and programming, including how Aspen FSP can support the Community Advisory Group’s leadership across our portfolio of financial security issues. 

“Aspen FSP has always believed that to create widespread financial security, we have to understand the lived experiences of families,” says Joanna Smith-Ramani, Aspen FSP’s Co-Executive Director. “Centering the leadership of our Community Advisory Group has helped us strengthen that conviction. Expanding this group to include young leaders represents our commitment to helping rising generations thrive.”

Meet the New Members

Ariana Arana Bermudez is a first-generation Nicaraguan American, born and raised in San Francisco’s Mission District. A recent graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in legal studies and a minor in ethnic studies, she currently works at MyPath, a San Francisco-based financial justice nonprofit. This year, she is supporting MyPath’s POWER Leaders in spearheading a refresh of the Youth Economic Bill of RYTS (Real Youth Troubles & Solutions), a youth-authored document that identifies and proposes solutions to the most pressing financial challenges facing young people across the country. 

Antonio Gutierrez Estrada was born in La Piedad, Mexico, and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 4. He studies political science at California State University, Sacramento, and works as a program assistant at the campus’s Dreamer Resource Center. Antonio is passionate about advocating for immigration rights, rural communities, farm workers, and a more equitable higher education system. 

William Moreno is the founder and director of TheCHANGEproject, a youth-led nonprofit advancing health equity through community-driven advocacy, research, and storytelling. An undergraduate at the University of Colorado Denver, he is studying public health, with minors in biology and cognitive behavioral neuroscience. His research experience includes work at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to examine how socioeconomic inequities shape access, patient experience, and outcomes, especially for immigrant and low-income communities.

Read more about all nine of Aspen FSP’s Community Advisory Group Members.