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Rigo Rodriguez, Ph.D. - Member

Current Term: 2021 - 2024

Phone: (714) 640-7533

Email: Rigo.Rodriguez@sausd.us

Dr. Rodriguez has been an active Santa Ana community member for over 20 years. In 1993, he started his career at Delhi Center, a nonprofit agency in one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, where he coordinated health, family and neighborhood programs and participated in a neighborhood movement to construct the largest community center in the city. He is now a member of the Board of Directors for the Delhi Center, and has also served on the City of Santa Ana’s Community Redevelopment and Housing Commission and Planning Commission.

Dr. Rodriguez is an Associate Professor of Latina/o Public Policy in the Department of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at California State University, Long Beach. He teaches courses on Latina/o immigration and integration, Latina/o wealth and poverty, and Latina/o social policy and community development. A nationally recognized expert in community planning, action research, and grassroots leadership development, Dr. Rodriguez has worked with many organizations and communities locally and internationally to improve the lives of children, families, and neighborhoods.

Born in Salinas, CA, as the youngest of thirteen of a Mexican farmworker family, Dr. Rodríguez attended K-12 public schools in Salinas and Riverside (California), Atotonilco el Alto (Jalisco, Mexico) and Chicago (Illinois). Dr. Rodríguez graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Comparative Literature and Spanish Literature from the University of California, Irvine, where he also served as Student Body President. He went on to earn his Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Irvine, and his Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Southern California.

Rigo and his wife, Rosalba Hernández, are raising and educating their children in Santa Ana. Their three children—Nadya, Emilio, and Katya—attend El Sol Science and Arts Academy, a nationally recognized dependent public charter school serving students in the Santa Ana Unified School District.