Joel Hernandez Laguna

A longtime advocate for underserved populations on the Central Coast of California, Joel Hernandez has served as Community Impact Officer for the Community Foundation for Monterey County since 2021. In that role, he supports the management of a diverse set of portfolios with a grant-making total of more than $2.5 million.

Prior to that Joel spent nearly nine years at the Center for Community Advocacy (CCA) where he organized, trained and led community-based groups to advocate for better health and housing conditions in Pajaro and the Salinas Valley. In 2016, Joel became CCA’s lead organizer, managing daily operations aligned with the organization’s grants and contracts.

Joel was appointed to the Salinas Planning Commission in 2018 where he served for nearly two years. In 2010, he was instrumental in helping design an early framework of the East Salinas Building Healthy Communities Initiative sponsored by The California Endowment.

Joel was born in Michoacán, Mexico and migrated to the United States in the 1990s. He began his volunteer efforts with the national radio network, Radio Bilingue 90.9 FM in Salinas.