CLRJ Staff

Marisol Franco – Director of Policy & Advocacy

Marisol Franco is California Latinas for Reproductive Justice’s (CLRJ) Director of Policy and Advocacy.  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 Director of Policy and Advocacy, 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 - Associate Director

Nancy Sanchez is the Associate Director 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.

Ena Suseth Valladares, MPH – Senior Research Coordinator

Ena Suseth Valladares is California Latinas for Reproductive Justice’s (CLRJ) Senior Research Coordinator.  Ena is responsible for coordinating CLRJ’s research project, Making the Case for Latinas’ Reproductive Health & Justice Policy, and taking leadership on related research activities.  CLRJ’s research project was developed in recognition of the need to inform and increase the availability of California-based policy oriented research that specifically addresses Latinas’ reproductive and sexual health priorities and that is strength-based, culturally competent and reflective of the Latina/o community’s needs.  Prior to joining CLRJ, Ena was Project Director for a CDC-funded study at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), which assessed how culture and family values influence how Latina and African-American mothers talk to their children about sex.  Prior to her work at CSUDH, Ena was Assessment Coordinator for TALK-LA, a mental health study at UCLA’s Center for Community Health.  She led a team of field interviewers who assessed the success of intervention workshops that helped HIV-positive Latina and African-American mothers and their adolescent children communicate better and deal with stressors of living with a chronic disease.  Ena’s career in public health began as a Viral Hepatitis Counselor for high risk clients at the Berkeley Free Clinic, where she served primarily low-income and marginalized communities.  Her experiences at the Clinic invoked her to make the commitment to join the struggle in helping reduce health disparities and improve access to social and health services through research and policy.  Ena received her B.A. in Integrative Biology from the University of California at Berkeley.  She completed her MPH, with an emphasis in Community Health, from California State University, Long Beach.

Cristina Valle – Program and Administrative Associate

Cristina Valle is the Program and Administrative Associate for California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ). In her current work, she is responsible for advancing the organization’s mission, core goals and objectives in the areas of organizational development and administration and programmatic development and implementation. Cristina has over 4 years of experience in Contract and Grants Administration. She formerly served as the Contract and Grant Specialist for the Los Angeles based non-profit Beyond Shelter in which she worked primarily on federal, state and city grant renewals, reporting and implementation. Cristina also has over 10 years experience in Office Administration. Cristina attended Long Beach City College majoring in Geology and Mathematics. She is a graduate of Public Allies Los Angeles Class of 2003 and a former AmeriCorps volunteer. In 2003, she was one of two Alumni Nationwide to be selected by Public Allies to testify before Congress on behalf of Voices for National Service.

Gabriela Valle –Senior Director of Community Education & Mobilization

Gabriela Valle is the Senior Director of Community Education & Mobilization 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.