Roberto Y. Hernández

Village SF Coalition Partner 

Roberto is known as “el alcalde,” the People’s Mayor of The Mission, in San Francisco’s Latino Cultural District and citywide. Serving his community through culture, activism, and coalition building for over 50 years, Roberto draws upon his Indigenous Maya cultural, artistic, and religious practices to develop collaborative community organizing strategies for frontline communities of color. Leading economic development initiatives throughout the city, Roberto’s activism and successes have built housing, neighborhood centers, schools, parks, senior centers, recovery homes, and advocated for police reform. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Roberto founded the Mission Food Hub, which provided over 9,000 families with culturally appropriate food, rental assistance, testing, vaccines, workforce and educational resources for Latinos, American Indian, Black, Asian and Pacific Islander community members. Recognizing a need for a comprehensive, community-led economic recovery plan and in partnership with American Indian community members and organizations, we have created The Village SF to generate sustainable short and long term solutions for our communities.