2022 Empowerment Celebration
Equal Opportunities Award
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2022 Equal Opportunities Award: Oswald Mondejar
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Senior Vice President of Mission and Advocacy, Partners Continuing Care Oswald (Oz) Mondejar is the Senior Vice President of Mission and Advocacy for Partners Continuing Care, Inc., the non-acute care services division of Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners HealthCare). He works at the intersection of policy, advocacy and media, defining PCC’s core values and leveraging the organization’s resources in order to maximize positive social impact locally, nationally, and internationally. He is responsible for mission integration and administrative operations across three divisions: Human Resources, Marketing Communications, and Community Relations including Adaptive Sports. |
Oswald (Oz) Mondejar’s lifelong passion is workforce development and building bridges to employment for people of all abilities by removing barriers and demystifying hiring practices. -This passion is evident along every step in his career path and personal life. One of his most notable achievements along the way was the development of Working Partners, a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership between Spaulding Rehabilitation Network (MGB) and the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission. This important loan program offers a variety of loans to people with disabilities requiring assistive technology equipment and affordable loans to purchase devices. Oz and the team at MGB recognized the value in the investment of such an important partnership from the ground floor the program has grown and has loaned over $15.5 million and helped over 2050 individuals gain access to life-changing devices. This unique relationship brings together government and community leaders to design policies that break down barriers to employment for people with disabilities. His work positioned MGB as industry leaders who demonstrated through successful collaboration and partnerships between the public and private worlds that could and did produce tangible results in the disability community and changed the perception of employers who at one time did not fully embrace talent from all communities. Many patients accessed the loan program, and on-the-job training and found successful job placements. It is this intersection between loan programs, underserved communities, and people with disabilities that sets the course for real change.
His work continues as a commissioner for Governor Charlie Baker’s Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities and board positions for Eastern Bank, among others. He believes that, “Diversity and Inclusion have to be living concepts in all we do for recruitment and retention.” It is this outlook and passion that makes him a true champion of Easterseals MA and our constant pursuit of innovation that can drive change in a world that is not always accessible or accepting of people with disabilities.
