Richard De León

Richard De León joins the Blue Zones Project Petaluma team as the Public Policy Lead. Richard will be cultivating and stewarding partnerships that support our policy initiatives for the built environment, food systems, and responsible alcohol use.

Richard has successfully implemented multi-agency collaborative projects and partnerships towards greater community wellbeing and health equity. He has unique skills in engaging marginalized community members and applying trauma responsive systems of care within education, health, and child-serving organizations. These experiences influence him in his current role leading partnerships and shaping policies that support and enhance population health. Richard also aims to cultivate communities of belonging, with a lens on equity for meaningful change in access to wellbeing for everyone.

His parents immigrated from Guatemala to northern California and still reside in Petaluma, where Richard graduated from Casa Grande. Richard was the first in his family to graduate from college, where he earned a B.A. in Chicano and Latino Studies in 2005. In 2018, he earned his M.A. in Organizational Development at Sonoma State University.

Every day, Richard aims to be a better father, husband, son and an authentic human.