Bio
Rudy López is from a small steel town called East Chicago, IN. His father was a migrant farm worker who then worked for 40 years in a steel mill. Rudy’s mother, an immigrant from México, was instrumental in shaping his faith which is one of the reasons he has dedicated his career to the intersection of Social Justice and Faith by developing leaders and building power in disenfranchised communities.
Rudy has served as Executive Director for Interfaith Worker Justice (2015-2016), Political Director of the Center of Community Change (2007-2013), National Field Director for Wellstone Action (2005-2007) and the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute (2000-2005). Rudy developed his organizing skills in the neighborhoods of Pilsen and Little Village in Chicago working as a community organizer with Gamaliel. He has used his experience to focus on the passage of comprehensive immigration reform for many years and was a core faster for the Fast4Families campaign and toured the country lifting up the urgency to fix our broken immigration system.
He currently is the Director of Organizational and Community Outreach of Urban Strategies, and organization dedicated to improving the health, educational, social, and economic condition of our marginalized populations. Rudy developed a love for the Church early on and has continually served in various capacities. He is currently in a Theology program at Loyola Marymount University.
Rudy moved to Los Angeles in 2016 to join his bride. He is on the Leadership Team at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of LA. He enjoys doing pilgrimages and has walked the Camino de Santiago twice. One of his favorite quotes is from Saint Ignatius of Loyola: “Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God.”