Engage San Diego works to engage voters in historically and systemically excluded communities of San Diego County

About Engage San Diego

Headshot of Director L. Montero Adams

Engage San Diego is thrilled to announce that Luis Montero-Adams (he/him/his) has been named as the next Director of Engage San Diego. As its Director, Luis will lead Engage San Diego, a program of The San Diego LGBT Community Center (The Center), in its work to increase civic participation and voter engagement in historically and systemically excluded communities of San Diego, in collaboration with a network of social justice-focused non-profit groups.

Most recently, Luis served as the Advocacy and Civic Engagement Manager at The Center, where he led policy and budget advocacy at the city and county levels, and community outreach efforts for voter education, census, and redistricting.

Luis is a passionate advocate with 11 years’ experience in community organizing and voter engagement. As a bilingual Latino who grew up on both sides of the San Diego/Tijuana border, Luis brings his unique lived experience to his new role. Luis’s binational roots continue to shape his perspective and how he engages in efforts to empower historically excluded communities in the San Diego region. Throughout his career, he has worked in progressive organizations focusing on direct service, education, civic engagement, and policy. Prior to his work at The Center, Luis was a Health Educator at San Ysidro Health and served at Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest for 10 years in several roles.

Luis holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Women’s Studies with a minor in Latin American Studies from San Diego State University and was a 2018 Fellow of the San Diego Leadership Alliance, where he continues to serve as an Institute facilitator. Luis is a proud resident of District 9 alongside his partner Caryl and their child Remington.

Engage San Diego is a collaborative network of social-justice focused, non-profit groups working to increase civic and voter engagement in historically and systemically excluded communities of San Diego County.

Engage San Diego table members are established and effective civic engagement and social change organizations with deep roots in the neighborhoods they serve –

  • ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties

  • Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment

  • Alliance San Diego

  • Center on Policy Initiatives

  • Environmental Health Coalition

  • Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest

  • San Diego LGBT Community Center

  • San Diego Organizing Project

  • Justice Overcoming Boundaries

  • Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans

  • Mid-City CAN

  • United Taxi Workers of San Diego

  • And special projects: Viet Vote, MAS-PACE, and SD PRIDE!

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Engage San Diego Vision:

A San Diego where the electorate and leadership are reflective of people who live and work here.

Engage San Diego works to achieve this vision by helping partner groups build power in San Diego’s New American Majority communities through integrated voter engagement.

Engage San Diego Mission:

Increase voter participation in historically and systemically excluded communities of San Diego.

Through voter outreach, civic engagement, experimentation, advocacy, and communications, Engage San Diego aims to expand political opportunity by increasing electoral and civic participation of underrepresented communities in the County of San Diego – with a focus on the New American Majority Electorate of low-income families, youth, women, and LGBT, African-American, Latinx, AAPI, immigrant, and refugee communities.