Jessica Quintana

Jessica Quintana, Executive Director of Centro CHA, is a long-time Long Beach resident upraised in the West Long Beach area where she attended local schools as a youth, and remembers working multiple minimum wage jobs to support her parents and family. As one of the original youth members of the former Long Beach grass-roots organization Centro de La Raza, Jessica’s passion for her hometown and for community organizing started at an early age. Over her 25 years of public service, Mrs. Quintana has impacted many lives by improving services for low-income Hispanic/Latino communities in Long Beach. She has worked extensively in developing community-based service programs and campaigns specifically focused on improving health challenges facing Latino’s residents specifically in the areas of immigration, employment, higher education, violence reduction, and social justice.

Jessica Quintana serves as a strong advocate for all young people in Long Beach; helping many inter-city, at-risk youth and young adults transform their life and attain their educational and career goals while becoming strong leaders in their community. During her tenure, Mrs. Quintana has overseen several critical aspects of the Organization’s work in Long Beach; including developing a coherent system of employment and reentry services. Her philosophy of delivering compassionate, culturally sensitive services that holistically addresses the challenges facing many struggling urban youth, has demonstrated a proven-track record of success serving over (23,000) ex-offenders, high school drop- outs, and their families. Jessica Quintana is an innovator and forerunner in the Violence Prevention movement and is recognized by local, county and statewide leaders as champion for youth justice in Long Beach. She has mounted a great amount of her success from creating and implementing evidence-based violence prevention and youth development programs that saves and changes lives and reduces crime in Long Beach. ​