Manuel was born and raised in Bakersfield, CA. Manuel currently attends Bakersfield College, majoring in Political Science. He has served the community through various avenues including political, government, private and non-profit sectors. He has spent most of his career in community violence prevention and intervention serving underserved and hardly reached populations most recently justice impacted young adults providing mentoring services and case management, as well as hospital based violence intervention providing bed side mentoring services to victims of community violence. Manuel’s life has come full circle, as someone who’s grandparents worked in agriculture throughout the Central Valley, he is excited to join the United Way team in his new role, Program Manager for the Farmworker Advancement Program, working to uplift farmworkers and helping them access resources to launch them into sustainable economic opportunities.