Arnulfo De La Cruz joined the SEIU 2015 Education Fund (CLTCEC’s nursing home program) Board of Trustees in 2019. For over 18 years, Arnulfo has worked in the labor movement to give voice to Long Term Care workers, hospital workers, janitors and public employees across multiple states including California, Texas, as well as Washington D.C. Fighting for civil rights and social and economic justice in California is in his blood, and dates back to his grandmother Jessie De La Cruz, who was one of the first female leaders of the United Farm Workers Union (UFW). Arnulfo was born in Oxnard, California during a strike of lemon workers, when both of his parents were organizers for the UFW.
In 2009, Arnulfo launched and led Mi Familia Vota California, a national nonprofit working to unite the Latino community and its allies to promote social and economic justice through increased civic participation. During his tenure at MFVCA, De La Cruz led efforts to expand the Latino and youth electorate through large scale citizenship, voter registration, census education, and GOTV, resulting in thousands of newly registered and active citizens across California.
As Director of SEIU’s Immigrant Justice Campaign, Arnulfo directed the union’s efforts to secure comprehensive immigration reform that respects the contributions of immigrants, rebuilds our nation’s economy, secures equal labor and civil rights protections for workers and provides a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented workers in our country.
It is with this same passion that he serves as President for Local 2015 and manages operations for regions four, five and six. He is committed to ensuring justice for all. When the landmark 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision to protect the DACA program was announced, Arnulfo worked to elevate members’ voices with the press and on social media to highlight the significant impact the DACA decision had on thousands of workers in California.
Arnulfo is a graduate of Wheaton College and was awarded a highly competitive Fulbright Scholarship to work and study Economics in Mexico. He lives in Sacramento with his wife and two children.
