Meet Elmer Roldan

Elmer Roldan represents the best of Los Angeles — an immigrant who overcame challenges and dedicated his life to building a better future for our community.

Roldan recognizes his success was not achieved by him alone. Sacrifices made by his family and support provided by educators, community organizers, and mentors inspired him to keep striving, even when faced with adversity. Since the 90s, he’s been a part of movements where Angelenos came together to build a better future and knows that change is possible, no matter the odds.

Roldan is running for City Council because he knows the stakes. He’s lived the consequences of inaction. He believes every Angeleno—especially those living in South Los Angeles—deserves the chance to thrive, not just survive.

Born in Guatemala to a working-class family, his mom left school in the 3^rd grade to help support their family. Fleeing poverty and domestic violence, she came to Los Angeles and cleaned houses until she saved enough to send for Elmer and his siblings to join her. At just nine years old, Elmer and his cousins embarked on a dangerous 13-day journey through unfamiliar terrain and had all their money and belongings stolen along the way. They arrived in Los Angeles to reunite their family with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the determination to build a better life.

Getting acclimated to living in his new country, Roldan lived in a one-bedroom apartment in South Central LA with six family members. Surrounded by the crack epidemic, gang violence, and generational poverty, Roldan could have become another statistic. Instead, he became a spark of hope — channeling adversity into ambition and pain into purpose. He found support in the vibrant Black and Latino communities that shaped his upbringing.

It reminded Roldan to take advantage of opportunities in their new home. He attended Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary and John Adams Middle School, and was later bussed to Fairfax High School. He started in English as a Second Language classes until a sixth-grade teacher who believed in Roldan helped him transition out of ESL into LAUSD’s Magnet program.

When he was 13, Roldan was recruited by Community Coalition, an organization that helps transform social and economic conditions in South LA by building Black and Latino power. Through their youth leadership programs, he didn’t just find his voice—he discovered his calling. He organized and mentored peers, and after graduating from high school, he got his first job as a Youth Organizer, fighting to transform his neighborhood from the ground up.

At Community Coalition, he organized campaigns that brought over $100 million to provide schools with safe drinking water and air conditioning and made college prep classes mandatory for all LA students. His hard work was soon recognized, and he was recruited to join the Development department, where he brought in resources for the organization and community. To this day, Roldan says these opportunities helped him acquire the leadership skills that “got me out of poverty.” 

Roldan went on to serve as Community Affairs Deputy for the LA Unified School District Board President Monica Garcia, where he built relationships with community organizations and over 120 schools. He helped parents and students access the resources they needed from the district. His experience led him to another leadership opportunity as Director of Education Programs at United Way of Greater Los Angeles where he administered grants to nonprofits across Los Angeles and fought for equitable funding for our schools. He later led the Brothers, Sons, Selves (BSS), a coalition to help change how Black and Latino students are treated in public education by promoting policies that dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. With this track record, LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner recruited Roldan as his Director of Civic Engagement. 

Today, Roldan serves as Executive Director of Communities In Schools of Los Angeles (CISLA), a dropout/pushout prevention nonprofit that connects students to resources, caring mentors, and real-world opportunities in high needs communities. Even though 32% of LAUSD students are chronically absent - 100% of CISLA students show up and graduate.

In addition to his work at CISLA, Roldan served as President of the City’s Commission on Community & Family Services, advising on the needs, concerns, and interests of poor children, youth, and their families. He also volunteers with other South LA residents to clean neighborhoods and collect donations for families who need food but can’t leave their homes because of the fear of ICE raids.  

Roldan became a single father in his early 20s and spent his career balancing fatherhood, work, and earning his college degree. He graduated with his Bachelor’s in Public Administration from CSU Dominguez Hills in 2019.

He’s a homeowner in South LA, where he raised his two sons and lives with their three dogs. On weekends, Roldan spends time with his fiancée and gathers with his family in a way his mother could only dream of when she scrubbed floors for strangers — surrounded by the joy, dignity, and purpose that once seemed out of reach. He hasn’t forgotten where he came from. That’s exactly why he’s running for City Council.