MIKE ORTEGA

Michael Ortega is the Operations and Communications Specialist at the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality. He helps manage center operations and coordinates communications activities—strengthening the systems and processes that make our research, policy, and partnership work possible.

Mike has served in coordinator roles at the University of Maryland in the Department of Biology and the School of Public Health’s Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Health Lab. Previously, he interned for the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and for U.S. Representatives John Sarbanes (D-MD) and David Scott (D-GA), where he archived records, wrote press releases, and conducted policy research on transportation, food insecurity, agriculture, and healthcare. Mike also interned at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, tracking a $1.7 billion budget, drafting federal budget justifications, and handling correspondence from congressional agriculture committees. Mike also served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer at the Texas Association of Charitable Clinics.

Mike earned his B.A. in Public Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is endorsed by the Progressive Talent Pipeline.

A lifelong Marylander, Mike lives in College Park with his girlfriend, Sophia. In his free time, he enjoys attending drag shows, photography, cooking, watching Survivor with Sophia, and playing with his cats: Leaf and Fern.