José-Luis was born and raised in San Francisco and East Oakland to immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala. He “flipped the script” from experiencing violence and the street economy to dedicating his life to creating positive change and opportunity locally and nationally through direct service, policy advocacy, and community organizing. José-Luis has worked in youth development for thirteen years as a mentorship, life-skills, multi-media, and rites-of-passage facilitator. He also has extensive experience in the youth and young adult policy sector as a youth engagement strategist, qualitative researcher, advocate, trainer, and public speaker. Prior to his role in Coleman, he served as Associate Director at Transitional Age Youth San Francisco (TAYSF), where he worked with the Children & Youth Fund Community Coalition (CYFCC) to win the inclusion of TAY in the reauthorization of San Francisco’s historic Children’s Fund. José-Luis is a proud father of two children.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *