About The AuthorOvercoming the obstacles of barrio youth gangs, drugs and violence, Richard R. Ramos has devoted his career to serving high-risk youth & families.
To that end, in July 2003 Ramos Founded the Latino Coalition for Community Leadership (LCCL - www.latinocoalition.org), a national nonprofit whose purpose is to find, fund, form, and feature nonprofits in marginalized communities meeting the needs of individuals and families. Over his twenty-year tenure (July 2003 – July 2023) the LCCL granted over $105 million dollars in grants to over 220 grassroots nonprofits in numerous cities in several different States.
Ramos has previously authored three books:
“Got Gangs?” (2006), “Gang Prevention and Schools,
(2008), and
“From The Margins To The Mainstream – Preparing Latino Youth For Leadership In The 21st Century”, (2013).
In addition, he is the author and founder of “Parents on a Mission” (POM), a parent leadership program developing parent mentors that teach parents how to build healthy relationships with their children. POM has been adopted by school districts, nonprofits, the Colorado Department of Corrections, Kern County Sheriff Department, and most recently by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of their strategy for violence prevention in Guatemala.
Ramos has served as a Correctional Officer in California State and Federal prisons, Juvenile Hall instructor, at-risk high school counselor; a co-founding director of a gang intervention/prevention community coalition; Director of a Latino youth and family teen center and a founding Executive Director of the Interfaith Initiative of Santa Barbara County.
For his decades of community service and his work in the field of human rights, he has received numerous accolades and awards including recognition by the White House Administration, The United States Congress, The California State Assembly, the Santa Barbara Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and has been inducted into the Morehouse College’s Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapels Board.
Richard is father and stepfather to eight children, eleven grandchildren, and one great grandchild. He lives in Santa Barbara, CA with his wife Christina.
For more information about Parents on a Mission:
richard@parentsonamission.org or
www.parentsonamission.org
