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Leadership Profiles
Martha Guzman-Aceves
Martha Guzman-Aceves has nearly a decade of experience lobbying in Sacramento. Her current advocacy work has concentrated on environmental justice, occupational health and safety, and community health issues. Her recent regulatory and legislative victories in these fields include the enactment of both an emergency and permanent Heat Illness Prevention Standard through Cal OSHA and the Pesticide Drift Exposure Response Act, SB 391.
Since 2004, Martha has represented the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF) on legislative and regulatory issues related to farm worker health and safety, environmental justice and previously on education. In 2003, Martha served as the Legislative Coordinator for the United Farm Workers (UFW) AFL-CIO covering a range of labor and environmental issues. She worked for the UFW for five (5) years in both their political and research departments.
She is a board member of the Ag Innovations Network that strives to bring food and food production back to the core of people's lives; Pesticide Action Network North America, Sierra Institute and Community to Community Development. She was a gubernatorial appointed member to the California Water Commission.
Martha has a M.S. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California at Davis and a Bachelor of Science in International Economics: Growth and Development and a certificate in Latin American Studies from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, complemented by her studies at La Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago de Chile, South America.
Jennifer Hernandez
Jennifer Hernandez brings a diverse background of campaign management, lobbying and community organizing experience. Currently Jennifer is a Partner with Cultivo Consulting, a consulting firm started in 2008 aimed at helping nonprofits and community organizations participate in public policy shaping from the local to state levels. Prior to Cultivo Consulting, Jennifer was with the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF), where she coordinated efforts on Policy Development and implementation with the Poder Popular Program, a project funded by the California Endowment.
Prior to joining CRLAF, Jennifer served as the Deputy Executive Director of Communities United to Strengthen America a 501c4 non-profit organization that empowered middle-class voters and their families in 12 Congressional districts during the 2006 Congressional mid-term election cycle. Jennifer helped craft and administer Communities United's unique approach of fully integrating a Research, Communications and Field operations program to educate and mobilize voters.
In the 2004 Presidential Election cycle Jennifer worked with Voices for Working Families, the second largest 527 that cycle, which conducted voter education, registration, mobilization, and voter protection activities in communities of color in seven battleground states.
Prior to joining Voices for Working Families, Jennifer worked with the United Farm Workers Political Department in California where she coordinated the statewide driver's license field mobilization campaign and lobbying efforts. In addition to her efforts around driver's license reform, she also served as Program Manager for the UFW's Farm Worker Voter Project, a program geared at registering and mobilizing Latino voters in rural communities.
Jennifer received her Bachelor of Science degree in International Politics & Law, with a concentration on Latin America from Georgetown University in Washington, DC and completed a Masters in Public Policy from George Mason University in Virginia. Jennifer has also studied at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Currently, Jennifer serves as an appointed member to the City of Covina Housing and Community Development Authority, the Board of Directors of Organizacion en California de Lideres Campesinas, the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN) as well as the Stewardship Council of Roots of Change.