Cielo V. Castro

Cielo V. Castro serves as Vice President of Public Policy and Civic Engagement for the California Community Foundation. At the Foundation, she is responsible for promoting collaboration and advocacy efforts across the non-profit, public and private sectors to address community challenges. She also guides investments in civic engagement as well as the policy advocacy agenda across the Foundation’s grantmaking portfolio.

Prior to joining CCF, Castro served in various leadership roles at Fairplex, a 500-acre campus and home of the LA County Fair. She helped lead the organization through a complete reimagining of its role as a public-private partnership dedicated to community benefit. Castro has worked at almost every level of government and has facilitated public-private partnerships to help make government more effective and to ensure that services and resources reach marginalized populations. Castro has held roles with both the City and County of Los Angeles, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Obama Administration. She started her career working with local elected officials through roles at the National League of Cities and National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund, which grounded her commitment to civic engagement.

Castro received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Boston University and a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is an appointed commissioner to the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and currently serves as Chair of its Board, providing oversight to all public housing developments across the City.