Luis Sandoval - Executive Director of BSP

Luis Sandoval, Executive Director of BSP

Luis (second from left) pictured with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, BSP staff and Program Participants at an immigration event in Los Angeles

(Los Angeles, California) - Luis Sandoval has twenty years of experience in nonprofit management, leading Latino-led and Latino-serving organizations to create, communicate, implement, and sustain strategic initiatives.

As the Executive Director of Building Skills Partnership (BSP), he is responsible for scaling the California nonprofit’s programs aimed to improve the quality of life of property service workers in low-wage industries, as well as their families and communities by increasing their access to education, leadership, and career advancement.

Luis has over 20 years of experience in developing, managing, leading initiatives that reach those most vulnerable communities. Over the years, his skills have allowed him to assist several organizations in a variety of capacities. This includes assisting with strategic planning, board facilitation, fundraising, capacity building and programming as a consultant.

Growing up in both Mexicali, a border town in Mexico; and Salinas, California, Luis couldn’t help but take notice of the barriers that prevented him and other immigrants from accessing career and educational opportunities. Inspired by his personal experience of growing up in a family of workers in property and cleaning services, construction, and agriculture jobs who also sought to improve job quality in these sectors, Luis now leads efforts to support property service workers throughout California – 61 percent of whom are immigrants.

“For the work I do now, I see through my own lens of experiences,” Luis says. “This work is personal, since both my parents and I have worked as janitors at one point. I understand the challenges, but also the resilience and opportunities to engage [our] communities who are often disenfranchised and marginalized.”’

In his Executive Director role with BSP, Luis is responsible for forging new relationships in support of immigrant integration and workforce development initiatives focused on property service workers in Los Angeles, Oakland, Orange County, Palo Alto, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Jose.

Luis (far right) pictured with SEIU-USWW President, David Huerta and union members

Luis offers a unique blend of personal understanding of the communities Building Skills Partnership serves, and  the leadership skills to work with BSP’s Board and Staff to move beyond a transition and continue to be an effective and impactful organization.

“My personal journey – as a son of farmworkers, as a janitor myself, as a worker in low-wage industries, which includes working in a squid factory in Salinas Valley, packing shed in Georgia, or working alongside my parents in the farming fields; have shaped my view of how essential immigrants are, the challenges and opportunities that exist  within my community,” says Luis.

Luis strongly believes in Dr. Martin Luther King’s teaching of being a transformed nonconformist, and that all humans, regardless of immigration status, income, race, gender or identity are created equal and have the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” –  These two philosophies have shaped his views, in terms of social justice and not being ok with the status quo – and he is firmly rooted in the belief that we can and must demand for just ways in society!

Luis is co-founder of the California Advocacy Network for Aging Latinos. He is also Co-Founder of the AZ-CA Humanitarian Coalition, an interconnected network responding to the migrant humanitarian crisis. This AZ-CA Humanitarian Coalition provides critical support to migrants at various stages of their journey. Luis spent the early part of his career in higher education as an administrator of federal and state grant programs outreaching to underserved communities. He has also served as a consultant to elected officials, and nonprofits.

Luis has been a featured participant as a fellow in Hispanics in Philanthropy Next Generation Latino Philanthropy Leadership Program, and is a former participant of the CA Latino Caucus Leadership Institute. He has completed courses in a strategic public relations program at George Washington University. In 2017, he was selected to participate in the Aspen Leadership Seminar Program and has participated in Hispanics in Philanthropy fellowship program. Luis holds a degree from Cal State Monterey Bay - B.A. in Social Behavioral Sciences with a concentration in sociology.

Luis Sandoval’s grandfather working in the artichoke fields of Salinas, California

Luis is proud of his hard-working heritage. Pictured here, family members working in CA farmland