To ensure our work reflects the needs of these communities, GIFFORDS launched the Latino Advisory Council, a coalition of advocates, healthcare professionals, educators, survivors, business leaders, and more working together to advance gun safety and save lives.

The council helps guide our engagement with Latino communities across the country, bringing cultural insight, policy expertise, and lived experience to the fight against gun violence.

That’s why we’re working with community leaders from across the country and from a range of backgrounds to lift up solutions that take culture, lived experience, and systemic issues affecting Latinos into account. Together, we’re working to mobilize communities and demand change.

The Latino Advisory Council builds on years of work by GIFFORDS to support Latino leaders and engage Latino communities in the movement to end gun violence.

In 2024, GIFFORDS invested heavily in Latino voter outreach and engagement. Our PAC dedicated $5 million—nearly a third of its independent expenditures that cycle—to Spanish-language advertising supporting gun safety champions in Arizona and California.

We also partnered with Equis, a leading Latino research and polling firm, on innovative voter outreach efforts informed by new research on effective messaging in Latino communities. These campaigns highlighted the voices of survivors and advocates, including Kimberly Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Beyond electoral engagement, we’ve worked alongside partners such as Community Justice Action Fund, Mamás con Poder, and the Hope and Heal Fund to elevate Latino leadership in the gun violence prevention movement. Together, these organizations helped convene the first-ever roundtable at the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention focused specifically on the impact of gun violence in Latino communities.

We’ve also produced research and resources in both Spanish and English—including the report Gun Violence in Hispanic and Latino Communities—to better understand the crisis and inform solutions.

The GIFFORDS Latino Advisory Council includes leaders from across the country whose work spans community organizing, public health, education, survivor advocacy, research, and civic engagement.

Dr. Jaime Estrada is a pediatric hematologist-oncologist in San Antonio and the executive director of Texas Doctors for Social Responsibility. He works to mobilize healthcare professionals to advocate for stronger gun violence prevention laws and to recognize gun violence as a preventable public health crisis.

Fabian Garcia is director of government relations at Homeboy Industries, where he manages the civic engagement curriculum and provides education opportunities and workshops. Homeboy Industries supports formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated individuals as they redirect their lives and strengthen their communities.

Marisol Garcia is president of the Arizona Education Association and the first woman of color to hold the position. A veteran middle-school social studies teacher, she works tirelessly to ensure her students feel safe, engaged in their learning, and empowered to find their voice in their community. 

Alex Gomez has dedicated her life to social justice building community power through grassroots organizing. As executive director of LUCHA—Living United for Change in Arizona—she has helped lead major civic engagement efforts in Arizona, including campaigns to raise the state’s minimum wage and mobilize Latino voters across the state. 

Luis J. Hernandez is an internationally recognized organizer and activist leading initiatives at the intersection of racial justice and violence prevention. As co-founder and executive director of Youth Over Guns, he is a leading voice for change in the gun violence prevention movement.

Kiki Leyba survived the Columbine school shooting as a first-year teacher. In the midst of battling PTSD, he mentored hundreds of students through the difficult years that followed and now dedicates his work to helping schools and communities navigate the complex aftermath of campus violence.

After losing her brother Sean in a police shooting, Ashley Monterrosa and her sister Michelle created The Sean Monterrosa Project to reclaim the narrative of police violence and galvanize communities of color to bring systemic changes to the criminal legal system. 

Kim Rubio lost her daughter Lexi in the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Alongside other survivor families, she co-founded Lives Robbed to fight for legislative changes at the state and federal levels that will save lives from gun violence. 

Adrian Saenz is the co-founder of Conexión, a political public affairs firm based in Washington DC. He previously served as special assistant to the president and deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and has worked on multiple presidential campaigns overseeing Latino voter engagement.

Since becoming CEO in 2019, Jacquelyn Santiago has championed COMPASS Youth Collaborative’s mission to interrupt violence in Hartford, Connecticut, by building transformative relationships with the city’s highest-risk young people and securing over $12 million in new funding.

Dr. Laura Vargas studies mental health and health service access among Latino populations, as well as the relationship between community violence and healthcare access in Mexico. She is affiliated with the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative at the University of Colorado and is a member of the Issue Advisory Committee for the Ad Council’s campaign to reduce gun violence.

Marcos Vilar is a strategist and civic engagement leader within the Puerto Rican diaspora, renowned for his transformative initiatives. With extensive experience spanning Chicago, Washington DC, Florida, and Puerto Rico, he has spearheaded pioneering programs and campaigns in the government, labor, and nonprofit sectors.