Meet the Team


  • Alex Sanchez, is an internationally recognized peacemaker and co-founder of Homies Unidos in Los Angeles where he has developed and implemented innovative violence prevention and intervention programs since 1998 and has also led the organization as Executive Director since 2006. An outspoken community leader, Alex’s commitment to disenfranchised youth and their families in the Latino and largely Central American communities of the Pico Union, Westlake and Korea town areas of Los Angeles, is rooted in his own personal journey that includes having been a gang-involved youth, target of the INS, LAPD and Salvadoran national police and death squads. Alex’s family migrated to Los Angeles, California at the end of the 1970s, during the height of military repression in El Salvador. After being involved in gangs and serving time in state prison, he was deported in 1994 to El Salvador where he met the founder of Homies Unidos, Magdaleno Rose Avila, and others striving for social change. This turning point marked Alex’s commitment to improve his life and to help other youth do the same. He brought back that message of hope and redemption to California and helped found Homies Unidos in Los Angeles in 1998.

    Alex is a hands-on prevention and intervention professional that has made a positive impact in the lives of thousands of at-risk youth and their families. As a well-respected violence prevention pioneer and expert on gang culture and youth criminalization, Alex has advocated for comprehensive intervention strategies, immigration reform and Black-Brown unity – promoting racial tolerance and cultural understanding as a form of violence prevention. Alex adeptly connects these issues to a deeper analysis of local, national and transnational politics, systems and policies. He is a proud husband and father and symbol of peace, compassion and courage to his family, friends and community.


  • Ruben is a community leader with close to thirty-years of professional experience in intersectional advocacy, economic recovery and community organizing, as well as leadership development. Ruben is formerly incarcerated and works closely with our team to ensure our organization’s success.


  • Tony Gonzalez born in East Los Angeles, raised in the streets of South L.A. Son of Mexican Immigrants. Growing up in the system, being involved in gangs, experiencing gang violence and serving time in prison. Tony knew it was time for a change. A new born baby girl marked Tony’s commitment to improve his life and to help other youth do the same. Dedicated to help others, equipped with resources and personal experience Tony’s mission is to help underserved communities in the Los Angeles Westlake, KoreaTown, Pico Union area with the necessary tools, resources and support to overcome barriers to success. Committed to breaking the cycle of poverty, violence, low educational attainment and underemployment in our communities by empowering youth, young adults and their families.


  • Edith is from San Miguel, El Salvador and migrated to the United States in the year 1992. She arrived in California without any support from family or friends and had her first son at age of 23- he is now 27 years old. Unfortunate events occurred in 2013 and Edith’s son was incarcerated. She found support at Homies Unidos and volunteered for 6 years before joining the team as the lead for our CAPRIL program in 2020. CAPRIL organizes mothers and families who also have loved ones incarcerated and offers support and hope that Edith received when she first came to Homies Unidos.

    Her mission is to keep families united, offer support and keep them involved in events and meetings that we organize.


  • Anaiss is a Mexican-American single-mother, born and raised in a gang-impacted neighborhood and earned her AA in Psychology and Social Science, pursuing her career as a Social worker for at-risk youth. Anaiss is passionate in helping our underserved community receive all the necessary resources and services they need for a better quality of life. For Anaiss, it is an honor to gain the trust of the community and provide much needed services. Her goal is to be consistent with our presence as we expand our services and programming to more community members.


  • Fredid was born and raised in Downtown, Los Angeles. A child of immigrants, who’s mother had to work often just to make ends meet. At the age of 12yrs old he was initiated into the gang, not knowing his life was about to change drastically. For the next following years he had to partake in gang violence as well drug abuse which eventually led to him being introduced to the juvenile system which then led to camps and eventually county jail. During his early years he was introduced to Homies Unidos and his mentor Alex Sanchez helped guide him and deter him from gang life providing him with a whole new perspective on life. He now focuses his time helping empower and shape the next generation of youth and help break the cycle of violence in the low poverty neighborhoods.

Board of Directors

  • Bill Martinez is a management consultant serving the non-profit community of Southern  California. His specialization includes management and administrative practices, program evaluation, strategic planning and program design, primarily in the area of violence prevention, gang intervention, and other programs affecting youth.  Recently, he was a principal author of, "A Call to Action: A Case for a Comprehensive Solution to LA's Gang Violence Epidemic" for the City of Los Angeles’ Ad Hoc Committee on Gang Violence and Youth Development.  

    Previously, Bill was Director of the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles, a network of individuals and agencies who promote the Public Health Model of violence prevention. He has also served as: Executive Director of Eureka Communities Los Angeles, a learning fellowship of non-profit Executive Directors; Director of the Unity Collaborative, a network of gang intervention agencies serving the City of Los Angeles; and Program Manager of the Youth and Gang Violence Intervention Specialist Training Program at California State University, Los Angeles. He is also the former Executive Director of Community Youth Gang Services, a non-profit agency that provides gang intervention services throughout the City and County of Los Angeles. Under contract to the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, he recently provided training to nonprofit violence prevention agencies in strategic planning, Board development and other topics related to organizational infrastructure. 

    Mr. Martinez' educational background includes a Master's degree in City and Regional  Planning from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He  also has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from California State University, Long  Beach. 

    Bill is currently a member of the Homies Unidos Bord of Directors. He has previously served on the Board of Directors of the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corp.; All Peoples Christian Center; the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (now, Peace Over Violence); Cornerstone Theater Company; the Advisory Board the Gang Violence Bridging Project of the Pat Brown Institute, California State University, Los Angeles; and Renewing Democracy Through Racial/Cultural Reconciliation, and the Institute for Democratic Renewal at the Claremont Graduate University. Bill is a Founding Member of the Los Angeles County Association of Community Based Gang Intervention Workers, where he also served as a member of the Board of Directors. 


  • Steven Osuna lives in Los Angeles, where he is a father, partner, family member, comrade, and intellectual. He is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at California State University, Long Beach. He is a scholar of political economy, racism, policing, and criminalization in the U.S., Mexico, and Central America. His scholarship appears in journals such Race & Class, the Journal of World Systems Research, American Quarterly, and edited volumes such as The Futures of Black Radicalism, Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter, and U.S. Central Americans: Reconstructing Memories, Struggles, and Communities of Resistance. Steven was born and raised in Echo Park, Los Angeles and is a son of Mexican and Salvadoran working-class migrants.

  • Adrian is a first-generation Ph.D. student in Criminology, Law & Society at the  University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on gang labeling, digital  surveillance, stigma, incarceration, gang policing, gang injunctions, and prison systems.  

    Currently serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors for Homies Unidos and Paving the Road to Success. He is also a Peer Review Coordinator for the Justice Evolve Collaborative Project and a certified Independent Forensic Gang Expert through Loyola Marymount Law School.   

    Founder of Gifted Advocates for Neighborhood Growth, a consulting and community education organization that provides public speaking, trauma-informed trainings, and consulting services in juvenile halls and community spaces. Through this work, Adrian focuses on bridging academic research, legal advocacy, and lived experience to support system-impacted individuals and families.  

  • Jasmin Tobar was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, to a Salvadoran father and a Salvadoran and Honduran mother. Growing up in an immigrant community, Jasmin learned how to advocate for immigration justice as she knew how many families in her neighborhood fled the US-backed civil wars of Central America. Learning about her family's fight for liberation inspired her to become a community organizer. Jasmin has been a part of grassroots movements since the 2006 immigration mobilization when she was a senior in high school. Jasmin has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with an emphasis in Global Studies and Human Rights from Mount St. Mary's University in Los Angeles. She received her Master of Science in Social Work at Columbia University, School of Social Work. She grounds her social work practices in anti-oppression, abolition practice and trauma informed principles.

    During her time in New York City, she worked at the Roberto Clemente Family Guidance Center, where she worked as a psychotherapist intern with recently arrived immigrant families and youth experiencing the trauma of migration, intergenerational trauma, and collective trauma. Jasmin's research focuses on historical memory, oral history traditions, and healing in the Central American community. She is an adjunct professor at California State University Northridge in the Central American and Transborder Studies Department. She currently is the Program Director for the Salvadoran-American Leadership and Educational Fund, organizes around immigration justice education policy, and works with unaccompanied minors and their families. Jasmin has over ten years of experience in nonprofit management and programming. She is also a doctoral social work candidate at USC Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.