Vivian Nava-Schellinger is Director of Community Impact and California Partnerships for The SCAN Foundation. A proud Tejana, originally from the border region of El Paso, Texas, Vivian has utilized her legal training to efficiently and successfully merge business strategy, development, organizational management, and health policy to ensure that all communities have access to the information they need to make informed dec
isions about their health and economic security. Throughout her career, she has led efforts to increase the safety, acceptance, and access of programs and services for hardly reached communities across the lifespan.
During her tenure at the National Council on Aging (NCOA), she led the organization’s engagement with national and community partners to include senior centers focusing on low-income older adults, and the Equity in Aging Collaborative coalition to support advocacy efforts that elevate alternative measures of financial adequacy for all older adults. Her deep commitment to connecting NCOA to diverse groups and coalitions working toward achieving greater economic and health equity for all older adults led the organization to a historic $50 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living to provide funding and technical assistance to hundreds of community-based organizations focused on People of Color and working to provide lifesaving COVID-19 and influenza vaccines to older adults and people with disabilities.
Prior to NCOA, Vivian led strategic partnerships efforts in Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania at Enroll America, a nonprofit aimed at connecting individuals to health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Dedicated to access and equity, Vivian worked in higher education administration, leading the development and strategic planning of education access programs around student recruitment and retention at two of the country’s major research universities in Phoenix, Ariz., and Washington, D.C. She has also worked with public school educational programs like AVID and early college programs, which gave her a deep appreciation for the needs of students and the dynamics involved in building support pipelines in communities that start from childhood and continue through adulthood.
Vivian received her Juris Doctorate from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University in Phoenix. She is also a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso, where she earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and Legal Reasoning and a Master of Science in National Security Studies.
Vivian enjoys running, hiking, cooking and listening to Chicano oldies as well as spending time with her husband, Jake, and their four dogs.