CLRJ Staff

Rocio L. Córdoba, J.D. – Co-Founder & Executive Director

Rocio L. Córdoba is Co-Founder and Executive Director of California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ).  She has served as a reproductive rights/justice, gender equity and civil rights attorney and advocate on the national, state and local levels for over 16 years.  Most recently, Rocio was appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to serve on the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women.  Rocio recently completed serving her second term as President of the California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom (CCRF) (2002-2006), where she has sought to promote the inclusion of diverse communities of color in its membership, advocacy and policy priorities.  She is a Founding Team member of EMERJ (Expanding the Movement for Empowerment and Reproductive Justice) and serves on the national SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective’s Management Circle, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health Policy Advisory Committee, the California Family Health Council’s Board of Directors, and was a 2005-2006 Fellow with the Women’s Foundation of California’s Women’s Policy Institute, among other leadership positions.  Most recently, Rocio served as Director of Public Affairs for UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education & Access (IDEA).  Previously, Rocio served as a Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Southern California and as Director of its pilot Latina Rights Project; handled reproductive rights litigation and advocacy on the national level as a Staff Attorney with NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund and as a Staff Attorney Fellow with the ACLU's National Reproductive Freedom Project, both in New York; and served as the Kennedy/Coleman Fellow with the ACLU of Illinois in Chicago.  She received her J.D. from the University of California’s Hastings College of Law and B.A. degrees from the University of Southern California.

Marisol Franco – Policy & Advocacy Manager

Marisol Franco is California Latinas for Reproductive Justice’s (CLRJ) Policy and Advocacy Manager.  Marisol works to connect Latina/o communities across California to policy efforts and decision-makers in order to promote Latinas’ reproductive justice.  Ms. Franco is a founding member of CLRJ and served on its Advisory Board for over three years.  Prior to joining CLRJ as the Policy and Advocacy Manager, Marisol worked to mobilize and train community leaders to address local community concerns with the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA).  Marisol’s work entailed building a coalition to address the public health issues confronting Hollywood youth and families through community organizing tactics and a public health framework.  In addition to her work in community mobilization and empowerment, Marisol has significant experience conducting policy analysis, coordinating advocacy efforts and campaigns on statewide and regional issues.  Prior to her work with CHLA, Marisol served as Policy Analyst for Community Health Councils, Inc., where she worked to develop better policies to improve critical health care delivery systems, in particular the safety net comprised of Los Angeles County emergency rooms and public hospitals.  Marisol began her career in public policy as a Policy Fellow with Latino Issues Forum (LIF).  Upon completing her fellowship, Marisol was promoted to Policy Analyst where she worked on tracking and researching pertinent legislation and coordinating a number of policy initiatives addressing access to health care in California and improving Latinas’ reproductive health.  Marisol has also worked and volunteered her time for different campaigns, including the employer-sponsored health insurance and parental notification initiatives on the 2005 California ballot.  Marisol graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Latin American Studies and is a University of California Public Policy and International Affairs (UCPPIA) Fellow.  She has completed diverse trainings in policy, advocacy, and organizing, most notably the Women’s Policy Institute Fellowship through the Women’s Foundation of California and the Midwest Academy’s Organizing for Social Change training.

Nancy Sanchez – Operations & Grants Manager

Nancy Sanchez is Operations & Grants Manager for California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ). Nancy provides valuable support to CLRJ in the areas of non-profit finance, organizational development, grant management, and fundraising.  Nancy previously served as CLRJ’s Program & Development Associate, providing support to CLRJ’s overall policy and advocacy priorities, and special insight to CLRJ’s programmatic work in the areas of youth and sex education.  A firm believer in social justice, Nancy has focused her young career around reproductive justice, racial and gender equity. In order to address these issues, Nancy has dedicated her work to youth empowerment and education.  In 2005 she was an Intern for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, where she taught comprehensive sex education for middle school students across Los Angeles County, in order to expand youth’s access to health information, and to broaden their scope on living a healthy lifestyle.  From 2003 to 2005 Nancy served as Project Director and mentor for Latinas Guiding Latinas de UCLA, where she developed and lead a curriculum that promoted higher education, cultural awareness, reproductive health, and a positive self-image for mostly under-served or first generation young Latinas in East Los Angeles. Prior to joining CLRJ, Nancy worked for UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, & Access (IDEA). Nancy graduated from UCLA in 2005, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Women’s Studies with an emphasis in race, class, and gender.

Gabriela Valle – Field Director

Gabriela Valle is the Field Director for California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ).  Gabriela focuses on community-based education, alliance-building and mobilizing throughout key California regions to promote Latinas’ reproductive justice.  With ten years of experience in youth leadership development, Gabriela has brought a holistic focus to women's health and justice issues in all areas of her work.  Prior to joining CLRJ in September 2006, Gabriela served as Program Director for REACH LA’s HIV/AIDS peer education programs (1997-2001).  Trained in Augusto Boal's "Theater of the Oppressed," she trained about a dozen young people to use popular education in their work to improve teens’ knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention.  Together with her youth staff, they reached over 3,500 Los Angeles teens in four years.  In her time at REACH LA, Gabriela helped to transition the curriculum to a focus on the holistic health and well-being of girls and young women.  Gabriela then went on to join a team of Program Managers at Public Allies-LA (2001-2005), where she took the lead in developing training curricula, co-training, facilitation and management of this leadership program for young adults ages 18-30.  Gabriela led trainings in the areas of Gender, Sexualities, Women's Disparity Issues, Women's Empowerment and Self-Care.  Gabriela has also conducted several dozen workshops for other agencies, conferences and events in the area of empowerment for girls, young women and young mothers.  Gabriela attended Los Angeles City College and transferred to UCLA, majoring in Chicana/o Studies.  Her activism led her to join the ranks of generations of students and faculty who fought for the establishment of the Department of Chicana/o Studies and the César E. Chávez Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction.