Ruben Alvarez:
CLASS OF 1978
Saddleback High SchoolClass of 1978
Santa ana, CA
Ruben's Story
Ruben Alvarez, devotes much time to keeping connected with the community through his consulting business, Stay Connected OC. Recently named as one of the Hottest 25 Persons in Orange County, California, by OC Metro Magazine and OC Citizen of the Year by LULAC, and the Best in Networking in OC by Tu Ciudad Magazine, Ruben Alvarez, Jr. has used the Internet and e-mail as a community business connector. Stay Connected OC~ Emerging Markets Network is the brainchild of Alvarez that reaches over 6,100 key persons in the Orange County¿s minority business community as well as important non-profit organizations and media outlets. It is a weekly blast e-mail update about events and activities. Over 30 organizations have utilized Stay Connected OC since it¿s inception and is free of charge to community based organizations and for people to subscribe. Many of those organizations have included it in their marketing strategy to get the word out on their activities. Events, activities and members are added daily as he is constantly outreaching to the community.
In it¿s third year, the LATINO OC 100 list is dedicated to recognizing the best, brightest, upcoming, accomplished and influential in Orange County. Persons selected will be eventually featured in a yearbook and a website and will be honored at a reception. 100 Latinos will be chosen every year for 5 years. In the year 2010 a huge Gala will be planned where all 500 of the LATINO OC 100 will be honored in the first decade of the 21st century.
Ruben has a lifetime of community dedication and leadership of which he is extremely proud of.
One of Ruben¿s most memorable moments in his life and career has been being the Lead Site Liaison for the Official WHITE HOUSE visit of President Bill Clinton in 1996 to the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Ana. Alvarez worked closely with White House Advance teams which included the US Secret Service, Military Intelligence, White House Communications. The event held over 5,000 members of the community, leaders, celebrities and students to this once in a lifetime event for Santa Ana. Ruben was highly commended for his hard work and leadership towards the success of the event by the White House and President Clinton. In his lifetime, he has also met Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush as well.
Alvarez has been recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Federal Empowerment Zone Corporation in Santa Ana where he has already assumed the position of Vice-Chair of the Marketing Task Force. He has also been a member of the Orange County Chapters of Meeting Planners International, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the National Hispanic Business Women, the Black Chamber of Commerce, Founding Board Member and Vice-Chair of the Small Business Finance Development Corp., and advisor to the National Latina Business Women Association. He is a graduate of the PSI Basic Personal Leadership Program and American Technical University Entrepreneur Program.
Ruben has also served an unprecedented two year term as the Chairman of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Committee for the County of Orange. Appointed by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, he has lead the committee in promoting the application by Cities and organizations for Economic Development Administration Funds. This funding boost through the US Department of Commerce targets economically distressed areas nationwide. Through the committees lobbying and technical assistance to applicants, over $7.5 million has been received to help Orange County¿s pockets of high unemployment and low median income areas by creating infrastructure projects that produce high multiplying economic effects.
Ruben has also been active as a founding member of the Advisory Boards of the Century High School TEACH and E-Business Academies. Since 2001, participants in the programs have a 99% graduation rate as compared to the 45% rate of non-academy students. He has made presentations to Students, Faculty and Staff on the importance of staying connected in the community. He received a special one of a kind recognition as the Academies Ambassador in 2005 and the...Expand for more
prestigious Business Partner of the Year Award in 2006.
Alvarez has lived in Santa Ana since 1965 and was active even at a young age. He was a member of the Boys Club of Santa Ana from the ages 8 through 18 where he excelled in leadership and photography. He was a leader in the Keystone Club and won several national honors for his photographs. Alvarez also has distinct honor of being one of the Club¿s National Semifinalist Youth of the year. He has the rare honor of being the Student Body President of Lathrop Junior High and the first Chicano ASB President at Saddleback High School. In High School, Ruben served on the Student Council for 4 years, was the Most Valuable Player on the Frosh/Soph Tennis Team and was on the staff of the national award winning school newspaper as a photographer. He was selected to be a member of the prestigious Quill and Scroll Society. Ruben provided the leadership for the first ever blood-drive held on campus as well as being the schools Junior State Representative in Sacramento and San Diego. He was also very active in California Association of Student Councils on which he participated, then taught and staffed statewide conferences at UC Santa Barbara and Stanford University. He later served on the CASC Board of Directors.
During his 12 year career in Boys & Girls Club work, he provided leadership and dedication to thousands of youth locally and nationally. Ruben provided the vision and eventually was in charge of the Drew Brown project which provided inspiration and a positive role model to an assembly of over 1,500 at risk youth in the Valley High School Auditorium. 25 troubled students were selected from each elementary, intermediate and high school from throughout the Santa Ana Unified School District. Ruben also was selected to serve on the prestigious Citizen and Leadership National Advisory Committee for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He also served on 3 Boys & Girls Clubs of America National Keystone Club Conference Steering Committees and 4 Regional Leadership Conference Committees. As the Advisor to the local Keystone Clubs, Ruben was nominated 3 years in a row for the National Keystone Club Advisor of the Year award. Ruben started as the locker room attendant and ended his career as an Executive Director.
Ruben is also a writer. He has written manuscripts, screenplays and short stories. He is currently writing a book of personal observations regarding the awesome contributions of Mexican-Americans to the United States. The book is called ¿Ruben¿s Matrix¿ that intends to explain the inherent and sometimes confusing differences within the Hispanic communities by separating the population into generations. Highlighting major events over the past 100 years, each generation viewed them differently and was effected differently. The book will help business, education and government leaders understand the complexities of the Hispanic consumer, student, voter and leader. In addition he is working on the LATINO OC 500 book that will debut in 2010.
He is a member of Serrano Hills Church based in Tustin Ranch and has volunteered with the Teens for Christ youth group and the Corazon home building in Tijuana. Alvarez has also been an active volunteer Adult ESL Teacher at Mariners Church¿s Lighthouse Learning Center in the Minnie Street Apartments in Santa Ana. The center makes daily impact in the heart of the Minnie Street complex off of McFadden and Standard streets where four apartments were converted to provide various services to the community.
Ruben is extremely active in raising his two children, Risa-Linda, age 16 and Rey, age 15. Risa is a sophomore at the prestigious and nationally recognized Orange County High School of the Arts. Rey is in his freshman year at the new Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana. They both have served in leadership positions in student government and are active in the community and church activities.
Ruben Alvarez is truly a grassroots leader in Orange County. His vision, activism, devotion and faith have made him a great attribute to our community, be it in the realms of business, education, non-profits and government.
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