Mariano Avila
Inclusion ReporterMariano Avila is WGVU's inclusion reporter. He has made a career of bringing voices from the margins to those who need to hear them. Over the course of his career, Mariano has written for major papers in English and Spanish, published in magazines, worked in broadcast, and produced short films, commercials, and nonprofit campaigns. He also briefly served at a foreign consulate, organized for international human rights efforts and has done considerable work connecting marginalized people to religious, educational, and nonprofit institutions through the power of story.
Mariano was born in Mexico City, Mexico, where he learned the value of civic engagement and public discourse. His life and work have taken him from refugee camps in Palestine to garbage-dump communities in Egypt, Guatemala, and Mexico. He has met presidents and dignitaries from several countries, as well several international celebrities.
Mariano is a graduate of Calvin College and has an MFA in creative writing from Warren Wilson.
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The new Grand Rapids Poet Laureate is the first person of color, first person under forty years of age, and the first laureate without a four-year… -
A government ethics watchdog says it has filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against congressman Justin Amash and White House… -
Ahmad Khodor, a Grand Rapids man born and raised in Syria, says he blames President Bashar Al Assad and the indifference of Western countries for the… -
Jill Vyn, managing director DiArt has been employing a range of strategies to change perceptions around disability through art that centers disability or… -
The Sikh community is often a mistaken target of Islamophobia, which is why Simran Jeet Singh, a high-profile member of the Sikh community in the United… -
Undocumented Michigan residents have been receiving scam calls from people posing as Immigration officials demanding money. [Ring, ring]It sounds… -
Orange is the New Black author, Piper Kerman will Keynote in Grand Rapids Tuesday Night at Fountain Street Church.Piper Kerman says she wants to call… -
Pauline McGregor says she started a walking group and a community garden in the Madison Square neighborhood, but went to the Grand Rapids Neighborhood… -
Dozens gathered on the banks of the Grand River Wednesday in support of Standing Rock water protectors at a turning point of the standoff. Mariano Avila… -
About 300 people held a demonstration in Downtown Grand Rapids yesterday to protest President Donald Trump and his policies.People showed up at 4:00 p.m.…
