New York City, New York
About CLA-New York City
CLA began in New York City in 2008 and has been going strong ever since.
Xavier High School is our home for monthly cohort sessions.
The cohort is facilitated by Roxanne De La Torre our coordinator in New York City.
Are you interested in CLA-New York City?
Meet Roxanne De La Torre!
Cohort Coordinator – New York City
A proud first-generation daughter of Filipino immigrants who settled in Queens, New York, Roxanne studied Theology and Communications & Media Studies at Fordham University while immersing herself in campus programming centered around the intersections of justice, faith, solidarity, and community-building.
After earning her Master's degree in Religious Education with a concentration in Youth & Adult Ministry at Fordham's Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education, she joined the Cabrini Mission Corps in 2011 as a volunteer serving at Cabrini University's Wolfington Center for Service & Justice, and then served with the Jesuit Volunteers Corps from 2012-2014 as a teacher and basketball coach at St. Peter Claver High School - a Jesuit boarding school in Dodoma, Tanzania.
In 2015, Roxanne returned to the United States and was appointed to the position of Residence Campus Minister for Social Justice at St. John’s University in Queens, New York. A few months later, an opportunity to serve at her alma mater brought her back to Fordham University where she assumed the role of Director of The Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice. She later led the initiative to more intentionally and concretely integrate Fordham University with its surrounding communities through the creation of the Center for Community Engaged Learning.
After five and a half years of administrative work at Fordham University and feeling called to be more deeply in solidarity with marginalized individuals and families in our thriving NYC communities, Roxanne decided to leave the field of higher education for the non-profit world. Since 2021, she has served as the Director of Outreach at Xavier Mission, a for-impact organization in New York City supporting those struggling with food and housing insecurity. Roxanne also earned her Certificate of Spiritual Direction in 2023 from the Church of St. Francis Xavier NYC, and joyfully ministers as a Spiritual Director. She is incredibly excited to be part of the CLA team and to continue to grow and delight in the graces of Ignatian Spirituality through experiences with her cohort.
Who is a leader who inspires you?
I continue to be inspired by two Jesuit friends from the Eastern Africa Province (AOR) with whom I worked alongside at St. Peter Claver High School (SPCHS) in Dodoma, Tanzania. Fr. James Ayaga, S.J. and Fr. Jean-Baptiste Musiitwa, S.J. were the Headmaster and Academic Dean respectively at SPCHS when I served as a volunteer there and I learned tremendously from them both. They each are careful discerners, and so all of their leadership decisions at the high school were marked by a distinct prayerfulness and intentionality that took various scenarios and all those involved into great care and consideration. I pray often in gratitude for their steadfast example of patience, courage, and spiritual fervor, and especially for the influence they continue to have in my life. They now are each leading schools in South Sudan, where their leadership and steady presence are daily impacting the lives of so many people.