Tomás Garduño (he/him) is 38 years old, a Native New Mexican Chicano, born and raised in Albuquerque. He lived in Portland OR for seven years where he graduated from Lewis and Clark College, and did student and anti-racist organizing in the anti-globalization movement, culminating in the WTO protests in Seattle. He has been doing social justice work ever since. He has worked for Western States Center and Community Alliance of Tenants, co-founded ROOTS! Reclaiming Our Origins Through Struggle, and worked as a campaign organizer with the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice.
His most formative experience was his seven years as a statewide organizer, political director, and ultimately co-director of the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP), a 35-year-old grassroots social justice movement organization in New Mexico. After SWOP, Tomás took a nine-month sabbatical from professional organizing to focus on personal development. In November 2013, he moved to New York City to serve as field director for ALIGN: Alliance for a Greater New York. In January 2014, he began consulting with Groundswell Fund as an IVE coach, helping reproductive justice organizations build their year-round civic engagement efforts and grow to scale.
Since September 2015, Tomas has been an independent consultant. Through Groundswell Fund, he is currently coaching five RJ organizations across the country including National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, URGE/Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, COLOR/Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, and El Pueblo. He also consults with the Asian American and Pacific Islander Civic Engagement Fund, where he coaches MinKwon Center for Community Action in New York City and SEAC in Charlotte NC. He is also working on a civic engagement project with the Partnership for Working Families.
He is honored to be a member of the Strategic Leadership Institute of New Mexico, as well as alumni of the Rockwood Leadership Institute’s Leading from the Inside Out year-long program. He is currently a board member of Art of Revolution and Movement Strategy Center. He is also a traditional organic farmer, a yoga and meditation practitioner, working on developing a deeper spiritual practice, and is an avid bicyclist and soccer player.