Roberto I de la Rosa
Board Member/Treasure- Central Valley Empowerment Alliance
Roberto De la Rosa, Jr. is a first generation American, second generation Chicano, son of Mexican immigrant parents, born In 1971 and raised in the Heart of the California Central Valley in a small town called Porterville.
Mr. de la Rosa’s parents started the famed Organization for the Legal Advancement of Raza, aka OLA RAZA in 1974 while in law school. The Organization was initially created to recruit and help Raza (POC) and women get into Law School, and was the foundation upon which Mr. de la Rosa Jr. built his childhood.
OLA RAZA returned to the Central Valley in 1977 where its founders modeled it after the San Francisco Law Collective, led by activist Attorney Paul Harris. Bakersfield, California would be the new starting point for the Organization, and it subsequently opened offices in Visalia, and Porterville where Mr. de la Rosa Jr. would spend most of his childhood after school, weekends and school breaks assisting in projects, photo copying, distributing fliers, and anything that a six year old could handle.
OLA RAZA flourished during the 70’s 80’s 90’s and was involved with the United Farmworker Movement. Cesar Chavez himself was a regular at the dinner table and directly shaped the younger de la Rosa’s career path.
Mr. de la Rosa Jr. has studied architecture, art history, business and early childhood education. While never previously studying law, he now finds himself pursuing a Masters in Legal Studies wondering what happened. He is a graduate of Cabrillo College, UCSC, and is currently enrolled at Trinity Law School.
Among his various leadership responsibilities, he is currently the Chief Operations Officer for OLA RAZA, the Vice President of the Cultural Heritage Foundation, Treasurer for the Central Valley Empowerment Alliance, Advisor to Alianza Ecologista, Wildplaces, Director of la Academia Juvenil de Arte y Cultura, Veritas Art Center, and finally President of the Board of Directors of California Rural Legal Assistance
He is married and has two kids - Dario who’s 10 and Sofia, 7. He loves spending time with his family, traveling and going to Art Shows.
