Day One announced today that the nonprofit’s founder, Stephanie Nilva, will step down as executive director after 20 years of dedicated leadership partnering with New York City’s youth to combat dating abuse and domestic violence. Read Stephanie’s statement here.
“For the past 20 years, I have been honored to dedicate my career to raising awareness about youth dating violence and promoting safe and healthy relationships among young people,” said Nilva. “Following years of planning related to the values, trajectory and DEI efforts of Day One, I’m confident that the organization will enter its next phase from a place of strength. Day One is financially strong and well-positioned to attract an exceptional leader fully aligned with our anti-violence and anti-racism journey..”
While the Board of Directors leads the search process for a new executive director, Day One has appointed a current member of the organization’s leadership team, Lucia Rivieccio, LCSW, to serve as the interim executive director. During this transition period, Nilva will provide additional support by serving in the role of founder and resource development specialist.
“Lucia is a dynamic and thoughtful leader who is the right person and ideally suited to lead Day One during this transition period,” said Laura Dukess, chair of the Board of Directors for Day One. “As we searched for the organization’s interim executive director, Lucia stood out for her unique combination of experience in the field, as well as her knowing the staff, programs, funders and community partners.”
Under Nilva’s leadership, Day One reaches 10,000+ youth each year through a combination of outreach, preventive education, leadership development and legal and social services. The nonprofit trains more than 2,500 professionals annually to identify relationship abuse among youth and to provide supportive, nonjudgmental guidance to teens. Nilva has also formed a range of powerful community partnerships and policy initiatives to increase young people’s rights related to intimate partner violence.
“Day One initiated its services at a time when the phrase ‘dating abuse’ was barely in use,” said Nilva. “We have come a long way in the past two decades, and I am excited to think about what can be done in the next 20 years. While I will no longer be the executive director, I’m looking forward to continuing to support Day One and helping to advance our critical mission of stopping dating abuse.”
