Season 2 Ep 8: Rudy Lozano Jr. (Community Activist/ Executive Director)

Rudy Lozano Jr. is an Executive Director in Global Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and is Head of The Fellowship Initiative, a national program that equips young men of color from low-income, underserved communities with the skills, experiences, and resources needed to complete high school prepared to excel in colleges and careers.

Rudy spent most of his career working in the not-for-profit sector and alternative high schools advocating for positive youth development, and community empowerment. He developed his passion for youth organizing and advocacy growing up in a home with parents that were activists in local and international social justice issues. Rudy draws upon personal experiences, growing up in a single-family home, as inspiration to serve youth and families of color from working class communities.

Rudy has worked with several well-known community-based organizations, Association House of Chicago, Instituto del Progreso, Enlace Chicago and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights as a Youth Mentor, Alternative High School Teacher, Community Schools Resource Coordinator and Director of the New Americans Initiative. He is highly proficient at supporting adolescent development, providing academic and career counseling, identifying and addressing trauma, and knowledgeable about education policy. Rudy has vast experience in curriculum development and implementation, program design, launch and operations, budget and project management, supervision and staff training, and reporting. These skills and experiences have afforded Rudy the opportunity to meet, learn from and work with diverse leaders.

Rudy’s passion for change led him to run for the Illinois State Legislature in 2010 and 2012. His passion for worker’s rights, reforming Illinois education policy, redirecting more access and public resources to underserved and historically oppressed communities, and confronting corruption, nepotism and waste drove him to seek public office. While unsuccessful to obtain a seat in the legislature Rudy was able to ignite a movement within Chicago’s southwest side that led to more progressive candidates of color running for office and challenging the status quo. He continues to be civically engaged by supporting progressive candidates of color, especially women of color, through his volunteer activities.

Rudy’s vision for a better world stems from his exposure, by his parents, to political activities and involvement at an early age. This exposure led Rudy to attending conferences around the world, organizing in his neighborhood, sitting on local school councils, participating in numerous leadership opportunities, and developing an understanding that the world is inter-connected and that all people deserve fundamental human rights and dignity.

Rudy is alum of Chicago Public Allies, Leadership Greater Chicago, and the Surge Fellowship. He obtained his BA in Community and Youth Organizing from Northeastern Illinois University and his M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from University of Illinois at Chicago. Rudy is a proud son, brother, husband and father to two amazing girls.