We are excited to have Edgar Castillo join the L.A. Compact team as our new Senior Manager of Workforce Development and Policy. Previously, Edgar led UNITE-LA's efforts to support chambers across the nation in advancing a shared cradle-to-career agenda to improve education and workforce outcomes. He now will lead the L.A. Workforce Systems Collaborative and support the Opportunity Youth Collaborative.

Edgar will lead the L.A. Workforce Systems Collaborative, a multi-stakeholder collaboration of the region's education, government, workforce development, business and community leaders. In this capacity, he will play a key role in advancing UNITE-LA's systems change efforts to build a skilled workforce aligned to regional employer demand for talent and representative of our local diverse communities.

Edgar will also support the Opportunity Youth Collaborative, an initiative that builds multi-sector partnerships to improve education and employment outcomes for transition-age foster youth to thrive.

Previously, he was part of the growing partnership between UNITE-LA and the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives to support ACCE's Education & Talent Development Division in efforts to improve the capacity of chambers of commerce across the nation to have a measurable and sustainable impact on cradle-to-career education and workforce development outcomes.

Additionally, Castillo staffed the Education and Workforce Development Committee of the Regional Economic Association Leaders (R.E.A.L.) Coalition, an association of California's most influential business and economic development entities, representing 19 member organizations and up to 15,000 employers who collectively provide up to 3.9 million California jobs. Most notably, he facilitated the first R.E.A.L. Coalition Press Call highlighting California's business community support for the passage of a Clean Dream Act. Castillo also led UNITE-LA's Smart Justice reform policy efforts aimed to reduce crime and build a thriving and inclusive economy. He received his bachelor's degree in politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and studied community politics and development in Germany and Italy.

Fun fact: Edgar loves to travel, watch anime and is a soccer coach in his spare time.

Edgar can be reached at [email protected].