Ms. Alvarez has been part of Housing Works since 2008 as part of the nationally recognized Mobile Integrated Services
Team (MIST) and was mentored by Mollie Lowery, the pioneer of permanent supportive housing in Los Angeles County.
Ms. Alvarez holds a Masters degree in Nonprofit Management from Antioch University and a Bachelors in Social Work
from California State University Los Angeles. Prior to being tapped for leadership, she worked as a frontline homeless
services worker on Skid Row.

Housing Works is recognized as one of Los Angeles’ most innovative and effective homeless services providers. Under
Celina’s leadership, Housing Works has tripled its staff and budget along with increasing the number of people it
serves by scaling services in partnership with multiple affordable housing developers, public agencies and healthcare
systems.

Well known as an activist, innovator, and thought leader, Celina has served as an expert content advisor for Notre
Dame’s Lab for Economic Opportunity, UC Berkeley’s California Policy Lab, CSH’s Social Innovation Fund Conference,
as well as KCET and KPFK public radio stations. She continues to push numerous systems to improve their response
to the homelessness crisis grounded in the lived experience of those living on the streets and those working most
closely with them.  One effort Alvarez is particularly proud of, is having partnered with Santa Monica City College to roll
out a frontline worker job training program into a college curriculum aimed at developing the homeless services
workforce. Two years ago, Alvarez received one of just fifteen CSH National Barrier Breaker Awards. She is actively
advancing Housing Works’ priorities on food justice, living wages for frontline workers, telling the stories of participants
and workers, and decolonizing the workplace to create a safe space for workers and participants who are largely
people of color.