Rey León
Latino Environmental Advancement & Policy Institute
Executive Director
Born in Fresno and raised in the Huron area. Mr. León is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley where he obtained a BA in Chicano Studies with an emphasis in public health. He is the founder and Executive Director of the San Joaquin Valley's Latino Environmental Advancement & Policy Institute (SJV LEAP), a Latino and Valley based community organization. Mr. León is based in Fresno for the San Joaquin Valley and focuses on environmental justice, air quality and energy issues in the region. As a co-founder and active Vice-Chair of the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition and Chair of the Environmental Justice Committee, he exercises his leadership to ensure that environmental justice principles are advanced in the regions institutions and culture. Mr. León sits on various boards and committees including the Fresno West Coalition for Economic Development and the Center on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT). Prior to starting SJV LEAP, Mr. León organized for fifteen years, for the later five he was advocating and successfully building coalitions, community capacity, advancing public policy; placement of the first PM 2.5 air quality monitor for the West Side of the Valley, systems change; developing the first ever environmental justice strategy and the formation of the EJ advisory group at the air district and much more. Through LEAP, Rey continues to work with the "grass-tops" and grassroots communites to promote clean energy alternatives, green jobs and diesel mitigation in concentrated clusters of poverty in the central area of the SJV. "Working with Valley Communities to Achieve Environmental and Climate justice".
