Rigoberto Rodriguez, PhD

Partner

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For over 25 years, Dr. Rigoberto (“Rigo”) Rodriguez has worked with parents, neighborhood residents, community-based nonprofits, public agencies, and foundations to facilitate complex community and systems change initiatives in the fields of mental health, early childhood development, child welfare, community development, and transnational economic development. He employs popular education methods to bolster the civic and political capacity of Mexican/Latinx immigrant communities in local governance.

Rigo is an Associate Professor of Latina/o/x Public Policy and Chair of the Department of Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Studies at California State University Long Beach. He currently serves as Board President for the Santa Ana Unified School District, the tenth largest and predominantly Mexican/Latinx school district in California.

Rigo earned a bachelor’s degree in Comparative Literature and Spanish Literature, and a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Irvine; and a doctorate in Geography from the University of Southern California. Dr. Rodriguez is the youngest of 13 siblings from a Mexican immigrant family.