Rene Casas currently serves as an Administrative Analyst (Community Partnerships and Evaluations Specialist) for California State University Monterey Bay- Service Learning Institute. Rene earned his Criminal Justice BA degree from California State University Chico. Mr. Casas has worked tirelessly to address issues that hinder the upward mobility of boys and men of color. His background is grounded in multi-generational organizing following in his fathers’ footsteps.

While at the United Farm Workers Foundation, he was a community outreach coordinator. Mr. Casas has learned restorative practices and techniques from various sources but credits his personal growth and development to the teachings of La Cultura Cura. Previously at MILPA as the Program and Policy Coordinator, he addressed multiple inequities through system and policy change. In 2015, Rene was awarded the prestigious National Juvenile Justice Network Fellowship, where he spearheaded a community level up approach to youth justice policy and systems change.

In 2017, Rene was selected to form part of the executive board of the National Alianza for Latino Youth Justice. Also, Mr. Casas was appointed to serve as a commissioner for the Juvenile Justice Commission in Monterey County.

Recently, Rene served as a Masters in Social Work Intern at the Alianza in which he helped lead the National qualitative research on how Latinx youth get tracked in the juvenile justice system along with a system impacted youth. Rene will be completing his final year of graduate school this upcoming Spring (2021) at California State University Monterey Bay, seeking a master’s degree in Social Work. He hopes to further address systemic and institutional racism through a robust and authentic lens of racial equity and social justice.