“With founders Chris Edley and Ann O’Leary, the Opportunity Institute has two leaders who understand the need for collaboration and coalition building to reach consensus on policy solutions and to build the political will to move such solutions forward. And they understand that effective and just solutions are impossible without strong voices from communities so often excluded from the decision making.”
Alida Garcia
Director of Coalitions & Policy, FWD.us
Alida Garcia is a political and public affairs strategist for electoral and issue advocacy campaigns with an expertise in Latino civic engagement, and Latino infrastructure building in non-Latino institutions.
She currently is the Director of Coalitions & Policy for FWD.us, an advocacy organization founded by Mark Zuckerberg focused on passing comprehensive immigration reform.
She served as the National Latino Vote Deputy Director for President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign whereby she focused on developing the national Latino vote program in the 11 priority battleground states, which ultimately produced the highest Latino voter turnout in Presidential campaign history.
Alida is the Co-Founder & Executive Director of INCLUSV, a network focused on increasing the number of people of color who build careers in politics and advocacy and transforming the progressive infrastructure’s commitment to diversity & inclusion in hiring. She currently serves on the boards of the Bus Federation, Justice League NYC, Welcome.US, and the Council for American Job Growth.
Prior to national efforts Alida worked for Austin Beutner and Mayor Villaraigosa in the City of Los Angeles’ Office of Economic & Business Policy and led the Southern California Latino and Young Professionals efforts for then-SF District Attorney Kamala Harris’ first statewide campaign for Attorney General.
Before politics, Alida was an associate at K&L Gates LLP where she focused on commercial disputes and employment litigation.
She is a graduate of Stanford University and Columbia Law School.