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Carmela Castellano-Garcia fulfilled her dream of becoming a civil rights lawyer when she was hired by Public Advocates in 1991, the year she graduated from Yale Law School. She became one of the managing attorneys who represented a multi-ethnic group of police officers in the case, Officers for Justice, that succeeded in eliminating discriminatory hiring practices of the San Francisco Police Department.

Besides her work in employment discrimination, Carmela played a leading role in litigation to protect the basic health rights of immigrant women in California. The landmark victory in Yvette Doe, et al. vs. Kim Belshe successfully blocked then governor Pete Wilson from eliminating prenatal care for some 40,000 women in California. The case was led by Public Advocates Attorneys Castellano-Garcia and John Affeldt.

Carmela recalls Gov. Wilson’s attempt to eliminate prenatal care for undocumented immigrants, and Public Advocates’ swift reaction to that attempt in this segment.

As Carmela explains in this second segment, from an interview Public Advocates did with her in 2020, it was at Public Advocates that she learned that civil rights impact litigation is only one of many tools that a civil rights attorney has.

While at Public Advocates, between 1991-1996, Carmela also litigated cases involving insurance redlining and ensuring access to the “information superhighway” (a popular term used through the 1990s to refer to digital communication systems and the Internet telecommunications network) for California’s minority, low-income populations, but Carmela channeled her remarkable energy, passion for social justice and intellectual acumen mostly towards ensuring that low-income communities of color had access to quality health care.

I’ve dedicated my life to advocating for those in need, fighting for social justice, and improving the health of all Californians. I’ve learned nearly anything can be accomplished through hard work and a tenacious spirit.

Carmela Castellano-Garcia

In keeping with what was to be a lifelong commitment to championing health equity for California’s Latino community, while at Pubic Advocates Carmela founded the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California (LCHC), a policy and advocacy organization working to improve access to health and human services for the state’s Latino population. Carmela served as director of LCHC from 1992-1997. Today LCHC remains the only statewide organization with a  specific emphasis on Latino health.

After six years at Public Advocates, Carmela went on to become the head of the California Primary Care Association, CPCA. Under her leadership from 1997 to 2021, CPCA grew to represent over 1300 nonprofit, community clinics and health centers (CCHCs) which serve nearly 7.4 million patients a year, over half of them Latino. Its member clinics are committed to providing high quality health care to multicultural communities in a compassionate and culturally sensitive manner.

Carmela also played an important role at Public Advocates as a member of the Board of Governors from 2012-2013. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley. While a student, she spent a year at La Universidad Central de Venezuela as a Rotary Foundation International Scholar.

NOW: 

After 24 years at the helm of CPCA, Carmela stepped down in 2021 to head the Castellano Family Foundation founded by her parents. Since its founding in 2001, CFF has awarded $5 million in grants to nonprofit organizations investing in Latino arts and culture, education, leadership development and diversity in Santa Clara County. Carmela is also focused on promoting diversity within philanthropy, both in California and nationally.

Carmela continues to serve as a member of the board of directors of National Center for Family Philanthropy, the Greenlining Institute, and she is President of the Castellano Family Foundation.