Clarissa Martínez De Castro is passionate about strengthening civil society. As Vice President of the Latino Vote Initiative at UnidosUS, the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S, she oversees efforts to advance an accurate understanding of Hispanic voters and their priorities, and to expand the community’s civic engagement by advancing a participation continuum that helps eligible immigrants become citizens, citizens become voters, and the community overall become an active participant in policy change. She previously served as UnidosUS Vice President for Policy and Advocacy and led the organization’s efforts to advance fair and effective immigration policies. She has advocated at the federal and state levels on issues impacting Latinos, has extensive experience overseeing and developing polling projects on Latino voters and issues impacting the community, and also designed Rise Above, a pilot initiative to build a positive, accurate narrative of our changing America that fosters collaborative action. She has produced reports and articles on the Latino electorate and testified at Congressional hearings on immigration.

A frequent commentator on the Latino electorate and immigration issues on television, radio, print and digital media, she is a graduate of Occidental College and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, a U.S. Vote Foundation and Fair Elections Center board member, an advisory committee member of the Ad Council and Power The Polls, and a 2015 Presidential Leadership Scholar. Formerly undocumented, she came to the US as a teenager and is now a naturalized citizen.