Rene Castro

René Castro was born in Long Beach at St. Mary’s Hospital but grew up in North East Los Angeles. After completing his degree at UCLA he entered the field of mental health and worked in a variety of settings with children, youth and adults. In 1990 Mr. Castro joined the Peace Corps and lived on a remote Pacific island for 2 years. After that he came back to the U.S. and earned his Masters Degree in Social Work with an emphasis in Public Administration from the University of Washington.

In 1995 Mr. Castro came to Long Beach and has been working to improve conditions in underserved neighborhoods ever since. His work experience includes: Community Development Analyst for the Juvenile Crime Prevention Program; Community Development Analyst for the City of Long Beach; Vice-President for The California Conference for Equality and Justice; and founding Executive Director of Building Healthy Communities, Long Beach. Rene has also served as an Adjunct Professor for the School of Social Work at California State University, Long Beach for the past 25 years. His expertise includes: diversity, equity and inclusion; program development; strategic planning; asset-based community development; interpersonal and intergroup conflict management; leadership development; grant writing; public advocacy and community collaboration. Rene joined the Century team in 2015 and has been instrumental in building our social work internship program, increasing grant revenue and building the infrastructure for community collaboration at Century Villages at Cabrillo and our new site called One San Pedro.

He lives in Long Beach with his wife of 24 years, Elizabeth Jimenez.