Gabriel Garcia

Gabriel Garcia is a Community Project Manager with the UC San Diego Center for Community Health, where they support the San Diego County Childhood Obesity Initiative (SDCOI), the nation’s largest and longest-running collective impact initiative focused on childhood obesity. They facilitate the Community Council, advancing community voice and lived experience in shaping health equity strategies and priorities. Their work centers on creating spaces where residents most impacted by food insecurity, affordability barriers, and neighborhood inequities actively shape solutions. Working at the intersection of community organizing, public health, and policy change, Garcia helps translate community experiences into strategies that transform systems and advance food justice.

The UC San Diego Center for Community Health, housed within the Population Sciences and Community Engagement unit of the Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute, is a regional and national leader in community-engaged public health, nutrition security, and food systems transformation. Since 2001, Center for Community Health has advanced health equity across San Diego and Imperial Counties through community-centered research, multi-sector partnerships, and programs that improve access to nutritious, culturally relevant food. Today, Center for Community Health’s work spans community-centered research, capacity building, education, and direct service, always rooted in community voice and social determinants of health. A central pillar of their portfolio is its food systems and food equity work.