Sarai Rivera is of Puerto Rican descent, born in Bronx, New York. At the age of four, her parents settled in Worcester because they were going to be ordained as ministers in a church in the city. Due to her family's role in the church, faith has played a significant role in her life. Rivera graduated from Worcester State College with a B.S. in Psychology; she received her master's at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work and received her doctorate at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. Among the many leadership positions she has held are board member of Worcester Clergy/Police Community Partnership, Chair of UPCS Parent Council, and Board Member of Women Together/Mujeres Unidas.

Sarai Rivera has dedicated her life to fighting for social justice and serving her community. That is why she ran for public office. Rivera believes the people of color in Worcester needed representation in electoral politics and a voice at the decision-making table. Her electoral campaigns have been a success. She is the first Latina elected to the Worcester City Council. Currently, she also works as a clinical therapist anderves as the Co-Senior Pastor at the Christian Community Church in Worcester. (narrative profile by Diana Chávez Cruz, Holy Cross ´24)

Latino History Project interview with Sarai Rivera, 13 July 2016 Interviewer, Leo Negrón Cruz; Transcription, Cynthia Stone

"My family decided to move to Worcester because my parents were going to be ordained into being pastor of a church here. My father was one of the first two or three ministers in the Latino evangelical movement here in the city of Worcester. We had had some family that had come here already, that was living here. It was also during the time of big industry—manufacturing. It was a place where people could earn a good living and become economically mobile. My parents were really driven by faith and felt a calling to leave the City and come to a place where they were going [--] to do their calling and be ordained. I think they felt they could provide a different life here than in the City, the New York of the time. [...]"

"The neighborhood was great. I loved the neighborhood I grew up with. [--] I think it was a blessing in disguise because, had I not [lived there], I never would have really connected with [the community]… It was hard. In school they don’t teach us about our roots and our culture. A lot of my culture and language that I maintained was because of church. Because I grew up in a Latino-based church. So learning to read Spanish was because we learned to read the Bible in Spanish. And learning to speak Spanish was because we did a lot of what we did in our church in Spanish. We integrated with people that were Latino; you had no option but to learn the language. And we celebrated a lot of the culture—the food and fellowship and faith and family."