Carrie Miranda has always had a passion for working to improve the lives of people with disabilities. For the past 11 years, that passion has guided her work at Looking Upwards, a social service agency for developmentally disabled adults in Middletown.
Since 2004, Miranda has been Looking Upwards’ executive director. In that role, she has had direct responsibility for overseeing the organization’s annual budget, which has grown from $11 million to $13.6 million since she took the top job, and its 400 employees. She has managed that feat despite repeated cuts in funding for some of the group’s programs.
The board gives Miranda wide discretion to set Looking Upwards’ direction and manage its daily operations. Under her leadership, the agency introduced a new Early Intervention program two years ago. “I believe that this growth and diversification of services was critical in creating a more solid organization that will weather difficult fiscal times in Rhode Island,” she wrote in her 40 Under Forty application. Prior to becoming executive director, Miranda served as a service coordinator and then a residential administrator at the agency.
In addition to her role leading Looking Upwards, Miranda also serves as vice president of Community Provider Network of Rhode Island, a trade association. “In this role, I have had the opportunity to influence state and federal policy related to funding, regulation and other standards for services to people with disabilities,” she wrote.
Before working for Looking Upwards, she worked for South County Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in North Kingstown and then for two years at ARC Peninsula in Hampton, Va.
Miranda also serves as Rhode Island’s representative to both the American Association for Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities and the American Network of Community Options and Resources. •
